Reading, PA, native Jenifer Kinder has been singing
for as long as she can remember. Her family says she would run around the house singing t.v. commercials and
songs that her parents or siblings would listen to. She remembers her first experience of singing in public
vividly. She was in first grade and the school she attended would pick one classroom a month to record a song in
music class. That song would then be played for the entire school over the loud speaker during the morning
announcements. Music teacher, Julia Spangler chose Jenifer to sing a solo when her classroom's turn came around.
It didn't seem like a big deal at the time and Jenifer never even mentioned it to her family. Only 6 years
old, she remembers being embarassed by the attention that the recording brought in school. Her brother, Chris,
who also attended the school, poked fun at her but later he confessed to their mom that, "It actually
sounded pretty good." Her music teacher thought so too and began to nurture Jenifer's young talent, encouraging her to
sing in the school choir and participate in the yearly talent shows.
Not too long after discovering her voice, Jenifer
took a big interest in Broadway musicals. This is where her real love for music began. She would sit in her room
for hours singing alomg with the soundtrack to "Annie" over and over again to the point that the neighbors
would complain and ask her parents to "shut her up." Her parents realized this wasn't a passing fad and wanted to be
supportive of her passion for singing. They were advised to enroll her in voice lessons to make sure she was using
her voice properly. She began studying voice at age 8 with David Rutt, a Reading School District music teacher.
Rutt would always refer to her as his "little tiger," noting what a big, strong voice she had for such
a little girl. Though he knew of her love for Broadway, Rutt
made a point to explain the importance of learning to sing all types of music. Over the next few years she became heavily
involved in local musicals with the Reading Civic Opera and Genesius Theater, landing lead roles in "Annie," "The Music
Man," and "Peter Pan."
She continued to sing at different venues, whether it be volunteering
her voice to charity events, talent shows, school plays, or even holding her own little concerts on her front
porch for anyone who was willing to listen. It was at age 14 things started to come together. She was introduced
to Waterfall Music Group producer/songwriter Scott Verret and began recording
jingles and commercials for some of Berks County's most successful area businesses, as well as doing the theme songs for Easter
Seals and The United Way. It wasn't always all business though. Scott would let Jenifer come to the studio to
record songs she really liked to sing just for the fun of it. Being a teenager in the late 80's, she had idols
like Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Whitney Houston. During one session, Jenifer took a cassette of (then newcomer) Mariah
Carey's "Love Takes Time" along and made a recording of her voice singing over top of Mariah's. It wasn't
until that night that Scott saw the potential in Jenifer. He said he was "blown away" and soon set up a meeting with
her parents, offering to be Jenifer's agent and mentor. A contract was signed and a life -long friendship began.
Verret started writing original songs specifically for Kinder to sing. They would record them and send them out
to record lables. The response was never what they hoped it would be; either the companies would pass or keep asking
for more material. This went on for years but Verret was determined to get her a record deal and though it didn't look
like it was going to happen, he never gave up or lost faith, even when Jenifer did.
In her mid-20's ,Kinder was offered the position as the lead
singer in a Reading based cover band. It was a big adjustment after all the years spent in a recording studio to
sing in front of a live audience. This was something she hadn't done since childhood. But soon the stage felt
like her second home and the appreciation that came from her audiences was a huge rush. Her dreams of becoming
a national recording artist seemed too far gone. By now, she had 2 children and couldn't imagine not spending every
day with them. So after knocking on just about every door in
the industry and being turned down, Kinder and Verret decided to take things into their own hands. Over the years, they
accumulated quite a number of songs and decided to put together a CD in Scott's studio and try to market it on the
internet. In 2004, Jenifer Kinder's debut CD entitled "Show Me More" was released on the www.waterfall440.com website.
Over the past 6 years, Kinder has performed
with numerous well-known musicians in and around the area. She is the former lead singer of Synergy
and Moonlight Graham and has performed with Erich Cawalla, Philly Powerhouse band,
Big Ric and Vegas, the Bobby Mercer Road Show, Burning House, The Tim Heiniman Dance Band, Dave Stahl, Joe Keys, Neil Wright
and as a featured soloist with the Reading POPS Orchestra . In addition to performing all over Berks County,
she has performed in Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and MGM in Walt Disney World as well as the Philadelphia
and New Jersey area. She has opened for Country music sensations Joe Nichols, Mark Wills,
and David Ball.
Most recently,she has teamed up with musical partner(and fiance)
Erich Cawalla to co-front Reading's newest 7-piece band "The Uptown Band
featuring Erich Cawalla and Jenifer Kinder."