Kristeen Nicole Gillooly is a Florida-based singer/songwriter and co-founder of KNG Music Ministry, a project focused on creating Christian music as both an art and a form of ministry. Originally from Philadelphia, Kristeen grew up with musical influences from Boyz II Men, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Mariah Carey.
Nicholas Gonzalez is the co-founder and director of public relations for KNG Music Ministry. Nicholas also is the host of “Faith Matters,” a weekly radio show on WMAD.
Table of Contents
5:01 – If you had to describe yourself as a band, song, or genre, what would it be?
9:50 – How did you get started in the music business?
16:51 – Looking back at your career, what stands out to you as your proudest moment?
22:41 – What’s been one of your biggest failures, and what lessons did you learn from that moving forward?
36:40 – Three things artists should be doing today to grow their fan-base and move their careers forward
If you had to describe yourself as a band, song, or genre, what would it be?
Kristeen: Even though I have not been a Christian for long, I have always been very compassionate. And I’ve always been one that seeks to comfort other people. I think the ministry was in my blood, long before I was a Christian.
I don’t know if people will remember this 90’s R&B group, Shai. They did the song, “Comforter.” The band wrote the song for a girl who is having problems with her boyfriend, and they are saying that they want to be able to comfort her. They want to be there for her in down times. When I was growing up, it was a song that I found comfort in.
Nicholas: I’m going to go with Boyz II Men, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.” I’m actually a quiet, shy, timid person. I was the teenager who couldn’t call the pizza place to order a pizza, even if my Mom told me she would pay for it. I didn’t want to make the phone call. But when I found how the holy spirit has worked in my life, that is really when I started opening up and blossom. I connect with that song because it’s hard to say goodbye to your past, and what was, but when God really enters yours life, you can’t be that quiet, shy, timid person because the holy spirit speaks to you, and your heart, and your soul. And it speaks through you. So you blossom and flower into something different. My past is different than what I am today. And that is why I really like that song as a way to describe myself.
How did you get started in the music business?
Nicholas: That is the most unique part of how we got started. We never meant to start a business or to start a record label. I was getting to know Kristeen, before we got married, and I heard her sing and I looked at her and I said, “You are in the wrong profession. You should be a singer. You need to quit your job and be a singer.” And she thought I was crazy. But we did it and it worked.
Looking back at your career, what stands out to you as your proudest moment?
Kristeen: When we started this last Fall, we were trying to put together a band. We had a jam session with some guitarists. It was very promising. We really felt this was going to work out. We approached some piano players. And we prayed a lot for the band to come together. And it did not happen.
And that may seem like a closed-door that would keep you from doing this. One of the reasons I stopped doing music 10 years ago was because I had all this music in my head, but I didn’t have the tools to put it down on paper. But now, my proudest moment came when I finished producing an entire song from start to finish. I wrote the entire piece in piano. I was actually practicing the A scale when I wrote it. And I’ve come a long way.
What’s been one of your biggest failures, and what lessons did you learn from that moving forward?
Kristeen: Not having the band together was my biggest set-back. And the other thing was the lack of investors. This is a mom and pop shop. It’s a struggle even to find the time to do music and to do the business between family, working full-time, and school.
Nicholas: One of the failures from the beginning was we had a friend that told us we needed to set-up a website. And we agreed to get a website out there. We paid for a domain and we paid for hosting, and it was probably eight or ten months. It took a really long time.
My friend was working on the website for me, but he also has his own company is doing other things. And the website just never manifested into anything. At one point we said okay, we have to do this ourselves. I don’t really have a background in creating and designing websites, but the website you see is something that I did myself.
Three things artists should be doing today to grow their fan-base and move their careers forward:
- Making yourself available. That means connecting people in-person and on Twitter.
- Post regular content outlining who are you, your story, what’s going on behind your music.
- Be yourself, and be flexible.
The best ways to reach Kristeen:
On the web:
http://www.kristeennicolegillooly.com/
www.kngmusicministry.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/KristeenNicoleGillooly2
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/KNGMusic
Outro Music:
Praying For You
Kristeen Nicole Gillooly
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