Thornton performed one of her own songs, “Endlessly,” to a captivated audience during the Basra’s got talent competition on Contingency Operating Base Basra June 20.
“She’s an amazing artist,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Meeks, a Baltimore native and organizer of the Basra’s Got Talent competition. “I first noticed how talented she was when I heard her in the Basra’s Idol competition a few weeks ago.”
“She wasn’t able to compete in the finals because she went on leave, so I asked her to perform in this one,” Meeks added.
Thornton found inspiration for “Endlessly” when a family member’s decision caused her frustration and sadness.
“One of my family members aborted her unborn child, we were all a little hurt by that,” said Thornton. “We said we’d support her and if she didn’t want the child we’d adopt it from her, she was young and she went ahead and aborted it anyway.”
She wrote the song to reflect the feelings she had at the time and what she’d read in a bible verse – Psalm 139.
“There’s a verse that basically says God designed you before you were a thought in your mother’s mind, and it inspired me to write ‘Endlessly,’” said Thornton.
She said she finds herself inspired by any and everything around her.
“Sometimes people will say something and I’ll catch it, write it down, and then write a song about it, or something will make me angry and I’ll write a song about that too,” she said.
This musician finds most of her motivation comes from her parents.
“My parents have always inspired me, they always work hard in everything they do,” said Thornton. “They always did everything they could to put me and my siblings first.”
Thornton hails from a long line of musical professionals. Both of her parents are musicians and songwriters, all of her siblings are in music and her grandparents on both sides played instruments and were singers. In fact, her grandfather retired from the Air Force Band after 27 years of service.
“My entire family is very musical, we’re kind of like the ‘Partridge family’,” she said jokingly.
In addition to playing the guitar, Thornton also plays the piano, the drums and bass. Though she started playing the drums at the age of nine, she says she didn’t really start taking her music seriously until about six years ago.
“I was at a tough time in my life and I didn’t really have many friends, so my guitar was my outlet,” she said. “I started writing songs at 16.”
Thornton said she enjoyed playing music and at that point in her life she started to get more serious. She started taking classes and practicing a lot more and when the worship team at her church needed someone to sing and play the guitar, Thornton volunteered to fill that need.
Only two years later, after finishing high school she decided to attend a songwriter’s retreat, where she learned a great deal about writing music and was given a professional critique of her own music-writing skills.
“I was a young songwriter then and there were a lot of people there who had written tons of songs,” said Thornton. “Listening to their words and music style helped me understand how music is structured … or not structured.”
Thornton said she listens to a wide variety of music to study different types of musical style.
“On my iPOD you’ll find everything from Natalie Cole to Robert Downey Jr. and 30-Seconds to Mars,” she said. “‘Seattle,’ by The Classic Crime, is one of my favorite songs right now. It’s an acoustic song but I love the way it is written and constructed.”
The artist said she has about 16 songs written right now and as soon as she gets home plans to put together a solid demo.
Thornton’s song ‘Endlessly’ won her a spot at the Basra’s Got Talent final competition June 26. Only four contestants remain. Come out to the Morale, Welfare and Recreation stage at 6 p.m. to see who wins.
