There is no shortage of musical greats who put their careers on pause for motherhood. Shania Twain. Gwen Stefani. J.Lo.
The music industry is a well-known user of the “motherhood penalty.” Pressure to produce shortly after giving birth, grappling with whether to bring children on the road, pause your career or ask friends or family to watch them, pressure to lose “baby weight.” While many women pause their careers to raise children, few are able to return to the same level of success.
Plano mom Julie Ann Kennedy is attempting to break that cycle, recently obtaining a record contract after decades out of the business.
Kennedy was always a performer, she says. Her mom was a singer/songwriter/pianist, and the house was full of songs every day. Her great grandfather was an actor, known as the original voice of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ Happy.
“Music and acting runs in my family,” she says. “I’ve always had that in my blood.”
Kennedy began hosting concerts at 5 years old. They may have been on a makeshift stage in her parents’ garage, but the jump rope handle she used as a microphone got her the neighbors’ attention. From there, she knew she had to chase that feeling.
After college, Kennedy was ready to pursue music full time. She produced a CD and performed at various venues around the country, even opening for The Chicks, formerly known as The Dixie Chicks, in 1995 at an Arbor Day Festival.
But when she got married and started a family, she put her career on pause. And even after she got divorced, life as a single mom didn’t feel conducive to the music scene’s lifestyle.
“I had to stay home with my babies,” she says. “I put my music and my passion and my dreams on hold because I wanted my kids to know they were number one. They’re always number one.”
Now that her kids are off and independent, Kennedy was ready to start again.
“When you stop doing something, it gets harder to start back up. I was so connected to the music world,” Kennedy says. “When I got out of that, I had to restart my mind and try to get back into … the bright people and places and connections and gigs and venues.”
And though the industry has changed since the ’90s, she’s nothing if not adaptable. Stuck at home during the pandemic, she recalled the door-to-door pitching she’d done to get attention for her music to producers and fans when she first started.
This time, she looked to social media.
“First I would get on Facebook and start doing [silly videos,]” Kennedy says. “I needed the traffic, the people, the followers. I want to be noticed even if they think I’m nuts.”
After she obtained a following, she started calling musician friends who were also stuck in their homes due to the pandemic to come over and perform together. Snippets of music, covers and previews of her own music soon mingled in her feed with the “silly” bits.
Not long after Kennedy was able to start trying to book small venues again, she got a call from a record label that had seen her posts on Facebook and TikTok. Her plan had worked, with a record label came gigs and a new single called “You Ain’t Seen Crazy Yet.”
The music video is out now on YouTube and ReverbNation. She also has a podcast, Small Talk about Big Topics, where she discusses her personal story and aims to encourage others.
“It’s never too late to live your dream,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s never too late.”
