Maladies don’t hold back aspiring singer

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 9:45 a.m.

In 1984 pediatricians told Marge and Alfred LeBlanc that because of a crushed ear and twisted windpipe, their 10-month-old foster child, Callie, would never utter a word.

So she sang.

Now the 15-year old cheerleader and budding country crooner competes in the Country Music Organization of America's National Competition Showcase and Award Show today through Sunday in the Mardi Gras room at the Showboat hotel-casino. (It's free and open to the public.)

Young country sensation LeAnn Rimes won the same country music showcase three years ago -- at the same age Callie is now.

"All the reasons I like country is because when I was 12 I started listening to (Rimes) and liked her," Callie B. (her stage name), says. Since then, she has gone on to win five country music competitions.

The LeBlancs, from Coral Springs, Fla., knew that the bubbly but quiet baby girl was special the moment they met her. "It was just on first eye contact, it was something, and we've had her ever since," Alfred LeBlanc says. "Fate had it that we were meant to have her."

Callie B. has Goldenhar syndrome, a degenerative condition in which one side of her body grows at a much slower rate. Callie has a crooked little smile and a crooked windpipe. Her crooked eye has been fixed, but she now has double vision.

Her head is certainly on straight.

"I was surprised what my mom told me about my past," Callie says when told of pessimistic doctors' predictions for her future. "But I worked hard at it. That's how I am what I am today, from what I believed in."

Callie has endured 13 operations in her 15 years in order to correct the effects of the syndrome -- a metal plate in her head levels her features and an ear has been fashioned to her head where the one that might have been never was. She is set for another operation to correct her jaw, which tilts slightly to the left, and she attends special education classes due to a learning disability caused by a cyst on her brain, which will require another operation eventually.

"I'm sort of a dreamer," she says. "I believe in dreams that I want so I try to accomplish them."

"We are very proud of her," Alfred LeBlanc says. "She could sing any Disney song. She loved to sing in the bath, you could hear her in there singing."

He may have known that her penchant for music was strong while she still favored rubber ducks and Mickey Mouse, but Callie also didn't take long to figure out that crooning was her calling.

"I started singing in the third grade, in the music room with all the other kids," she says. "I knew then that I wanted to be a singer."

Her first performance came in the eighth grade when she was asked to perform at an honor roll assembly at her junior high school. She found she had perfect pitch immediately, but it would take dedication to get her voice ready to serenade the world.

"To be a professional singer I have to work more with my voice, just like any singer should take lessons for their voice," she says.

Her first national gig came a year ago at the Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Fla. She sang the national anthem to a massive crowd of football fans before a Miami Dolphins game.

"I was real nervous at first," Callie says. "That day, I was more excited. I just wanted to get out there and show the fans what I had to give."

She sometimes talks a bit with the audience, refusing to hide behind her maladies and opening up to people. "People get to know more about you just by talking," Callie says. "That's a good thing to do when you are up on stage. It means you are open, you aren't afraid, you can express yourself."

Singing has opened more doors for her.

"It changed my whole life," she says. "I got to meet more people. Most of them are from the music business but some are from people who have just heard about me and they call and ask me questions and stuff."

When not singing lyrics in her lilting voice, Callie competes as a cheerleader in the Special Olympics, bowls and attends dances with her friends. Her parents have always been supportive of Callie's adventurous leanings.

"They care a lot for me and they would do anything to help me," she says.

Although the Backstreet Boys command her teenage devotion -- "they are my No. 1," she says -- country music holds her stage interest. "I have a lot of favorites but I like to sing "Broken Wing" from Martina McBride because it has a lot of high notes in it and it shows off your voice," she says. "The emotions in the song are very inspiring."

Especially, she says, the chorus lyrics -- "With a broken wing/ she still sings/she keeps her eye on the sky/with a broken wing she carries her dream/ man you oughtta see her fly."

Judging from past reviews, her rendition of the song is inspiring. "You pretend, you act the words, but the best thing about it is people like it and it touches their hearts and that's the best part of that song because I like to touch people's hearts," she says.

And that is something she wants to do for the rest of her life, inspiring others through song. "I'm planning to get a job singing -- there's a lot of things I want to do with my singing," she says. "(But) right now I'm just in my teenager zone -- friends, music, family, education, that's what I'm into right now."

And the competition? She could win a record contract and some other big bounty, but for now she's content to hang out with her friends, including the strangers listening in the audience.

"I like to have a good time on stage. I like to know that I do better each time and I like how the crowd reacts and I like going around talking to people," she says.

Callie and her parents are giddy with excitement at the prospect of their adventure in Las Vegas.

"We like to explore things," Callie says,"but mostly we are just there to have fun."