http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/FEAT0108/707290456

Local 10-year-old's star on fast track

By Steve Penhollow

The Journal Gazette 

Almost anything can be a turning point in the life of a musician.

But here's one we can all agree on.

When the musician decides that, from here on out, she only wants to be known by one name.

Fort Wayne's Marnee Shaffer is no longer Marnee Shaffer (and the Fort Wayne thing is getting iffy as well).

Now, she simply wants to be known as Marnee.

Marnee is 10 years old.

There's nothing atypical about a 10-year-old musician. But a 10-year-old musician who performs credible versions of hits by seasoned professionals for crowds of adults who never feel like they have to cut her any slack for being a kid?

Pretty rare.

Marnee startles people.

She gets up there on stage, and she's cute, and people probably put themselves into the same frame of mind they get in when kids at family reunions announce that they are going to do a puppet show. And then she blows them away.

Marnee recently performed her first solo show at C2G Ministries.

Last year she won top vocalist in her category at the Talent Rock competition in Orlando, Fla., and this year she won first place in her category at the Fort Wayne Youtheatre Rising Stars talent search.

You can see some videos of her performing on YouTube. Just enter "10 year old Marnee" into the search engine.

Marnee is astoundingly self-assured on stage. She still has a few things to learn about interpreting material and stage patter, but she's 10  for Pete's sake.

Marnee even writes her own songs.

Some people who hear Marnee's originals say they can't believe she didn't have help writing them.

To skeptics, Marnee says, "Anyone who sees my facial expressions and hears my voice knows I write from the heart and I sing from the heart."

You can hear her perform her song "Down in the Valley" at www.myspace.com/marneeaugust.

This isn't "grammar school spring concert" stuff. This is "quite possibly my favorite song of the summer" stuff.

Marnee's dad, Tom, says Marnee has 10 completed songs to her credit and 10 in various stages of habiliment. He says her best stuff tends to be ad-libbed so he is in the habit of sneaking up behind her with a tape recorder.

A CD is being assembled at Tom Tempel Recording Studio.

An Epic Records executive has stated he wants to hear what Marnee sounds like when she's 12.

Marnee says, "I can't wait that long."

Not surprisingly, a wholesale move to Nashville is planned.