Noreda Graves - the dreamer

I am a product of dreamers. My mother received accolades and scholarships as a lyric soprano opera singer. She dreamed of performing in opera houses around the world, and especially in Italy. Before realizing her dream, love intervened in the form of my father, another dreamer. My father was a remarkable virtuoso of the organ who was well sought after from a very young age. Music united them and together they started a church. That one church turned into several churches throughout the US and Africa. 

I began singing around the age of three or four. The second born of three daughters, we were The Graves Sisters. My parents never worked traditional jobs. We traveled with our parents singing in various churches throughout America. My father also conducted workshops and trained choirs. Standing in chairs, we would teach voice parts to each section of the choir. Very early on, it became apparent that my life was anything but “normal”. 

As life progressed, I tried over and over to fit into standards of living set by society. It seemed safer than the risk taking, unpredictability of being a dreamer. I worked several corporate jobs and even excelled, but I was not content. Finally, an opportunity opened. There was an audition in New York for singers interested in joining the Harlem Gospel Choir. I was so excited. I packed a suitcase, with a couple hundred dollars and went to New York. I had no lodging plan and just enough money to go back to North Carolina if I was not accepted into the choir. The choir had a tour that was leaving for Europe within one week of the audition. I was accepted into the choir, but I did not have a passport. The choir paid for me to return to North Carolina to gather the necessary documents to obtain an emergency passport. Three days later, I was in Maastricht, NL working with Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra. We traveled the Netherlands, Germany and France and instantly I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The tour ended and we returned to New York. I stayed with a friend for a few months working locally. In 2007, I was invited to join Anthony Morgans’ Inspirational Choir of Harlem as a lead vocalist. Our first tour was to Italy. Italy for me was love at first sight. I found myself captivated by the mouth dropping architecture, the rich history, the food and the electrifying energy that reverberates through the land. While standing in Cathedral Square in Milan, I said to myself, “One day, I will live here.” At that time, it seemed impossible. It would be another 15 years and so many life phases before that dream would be realized. 

In 2017, I was working as an office manager at the office of Spine specialists in Cary, North Carolina. I was successful in my role, but wore the scars of living a life without purpose. I was discontent with virtually every part of my life and I wanted more. One day, I decided to take the jump. I wrote a letter of resignation to my job and bought a one way ticket to Germany. Germany was not my goal, but I have a sister who lives there and I knew it would get me closer to Italy. I moved in August of 2017 and started performing in Germany with various bands, while organizing a tour in Italy. I did my first tour in December 2017 in small venues around central Italy with my very own band, “Noreda Graves and HerBand”. From there, we started being asked to perform at some summer festivals in Italy. I came to Italy twice a year and my love only grew with each tour. I was enamored by so many parts of Italian culture that were so similar to the way in which I was raised. From the importance of mealtimes to the significance of family. Dressing with style and being hospitable. It all felt like home, even if I did not understand the language. Words are only one of many ways to communicate. Finally in 2022, I did it. I realized my dream and moved to Italy. I recorded my first album, “Introducing Noreda” and my following and outreach continues to astonish me. 

There were so many valleys in the path to discovering who I am and why I was created. So many days I agonized not being like everybody else. There were times when I felt like I failed and was not worthy of trying again. The one thing that remained clear in those dark times was that my life’s purpose was to inspire others. I want others, through me, to do more, dream more and become more than any limitation they have set for themselves. I can’t help it; it’s in my blood. My parents’ vehicle of inspiration was religion, mine is music. Music allows me the platform to exemplify self acceptance, confidence, resilience and even a little bit of defiance. 

To say I was raised in Gospel music is to say that I was raised in the Blues. There are no Gospel singers who haven’t lived a life of the Blues. Blues music is people’s response to unfair circumstances they experience or observe. Gospel music speaks very often of the same stories, but offers the hope of more promising days; of a God that would avenge the wrongdoings of others; of a paradise in which there is no more suffering. 

Over the years, my faith has expanded far beyond religion. I believe in the beauty of dreams. Dreams are realities in waiting that manifest when you believe in YOU.