THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
D
DANEILLE HASKELL
anielle Haskell is using her voice to complete her life?s mission by encouraging others and spreading God?s love to the world. She is an accomplished Christian pop singer/song writer. Amazingly, Danielle began singing and playing the piano at the age of three. By the time she was six years old, Danielle began taking guitar lessons. Now at the age of 19, Danielle is making a name for herself within the gospel music industry. She has garnered several accolades, including the 2018 Carolina Music Video Award for Best Video within the Christian/Gospel genre. Danielle has been acknowledged as 2017 Akademia Christian Artist of the Year and nominated for the 2018 Josie Music Awards category of Rising Star. Recently, Level 21 had the opportunity to talk with her: How w er e you discover ed? My mother would set up singing ?gigs? for me. I guess you would call them ?gigs? but I didn?t get paid for them. I would sing at local events and my home church. However, my first paying gig was singing at Disney. I sang at one event in Disney when I was in 6th grade. Two years after the event that I received another call inquiring if I still sang, and that began me taking my music more seriously and eventually leading to where I am now. Wh at m ade you w an t t o sin g gospel ver ses an ot h er gen r e of m u sic? I love all genres of music. Growing up, I went to a Catholic school. So, I naturally gravitated to music with Christian undertones. I wanted to create music that everyone, even atheists, could relate to the message of love and feel something in their hearts. The best part of music is when someone listens to and relates to your song. In the few minutes that they are listening to the song, not only do they become part of my story, but I become part of theirs and that is an awesome feeling. Wh at w ou ld you con sider t o be t h e h ar der t ask son g, w r it in g or sin gin g?
That is a tough question. I probably would say that song writing is much harder. Although singing and song writing require practice and hard work, song writing requires a lot of LEVEL21 M AGAZINE-PG.8
creativity. You must focus on the message and its words to provoke heart-felt emotions. I write personal songs to help and comfort others. Tell u s a lit t le bit abou t you r son g, ?For get ?. Forget is a very important song about my grandfather. He was suffering with Alzheimer ?s disease for the last six years of his life. One day, I received a call that my grandfather had fallen and had a brain bleed. Danielle flew back home to find him hospitalized. I was told not to expect much and that he would likely pass away in a few weeks. During his entire time with Alzheimer ?s, I was the only person he consistently recognized. Not once, did my grandfather get my name wrong. I was so afraid that he would forget me after his accident. However, when I saw him and said ?Pepere?, he immediately replied ?Danielle you?re here?. I was so grateful that my grandfather, even with a brain bleed, still recognized me. Immediately, I felt so much love and gratefulness that my grandfather had not forgotten me and neither had God. I wrote that song within ½ hour. The song?s message is that God never forgets us. Wh at advice w ou ld you give ou r r eader s t o f ollow t h eir dr eam s? Just relax. Success comes from being calm. When you are under pressure, just breathe and relax. If you stay calm and work hard, things will naturally fall into place.
