http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/02/06/100loc_b1singer001.cfm

Published: Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Singer will tell Tulalips, other tribal youth story of addiction

By Krista J. Kapralos
Herald Writer

TULALIP - A Grammy award-winning American Indian singer plans to speak out
against drugs and alcohol in front of a crowd of tribal youth from around
the region at the Tulalip Reservation on Thursday night.

Star Nayea was part of a collaboration with other Indian musicians on
"Sacred Ground," an album that won a Grammy in 2006 for Best Native
American Music Album.

Nayea travels around the country to perform music inspired by the Motown
sound of Detroit, where she grew up.

Nayea believes her most important duty is to discourage teens from using
drugs and alcohol - two addictions she has overcome.

"I prayed this morning like I do every morning, and I said, 'Creator, thank
you for my past,' " Nayea said in a telephone interview on Monday. "If I
didn't endure that, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't be able
to reach out."

Nayea met several Tulalip teenagers when she performed at a Seattle Indian
center last year.

"They were just so bright-eyed and wonderful and so interested in what I
was saying," Nayea said.

They asked Nayea to visit the Tulalip Reservation and share her story in an
effort to help discourage drug use among Tulalip youth.

"We're in difficult times with drugs and alcohol," said Ricky Belmont of
the Tulalip Youth Program. "This is another way to present information to
our youth."

Nayea was adopted by a non-Indian family when she was 2 months old. She
doesn't know which tribe she is from or where she was born. She said abuse
from her adoptive family led to her use of drugs and alcohol.

"The only thing that got me through was music, and there was a reason for
that," she said.

Nayea believes she was divinely appointed to use her music to reach out to
tribal teenagers. Six years ago, she created "The Healing Power of Music,"
a program designed to use her songs and her story to reach out to tribal
youth.

Hundreds of teenagers from Indian reservations throughout the region will
travel by bus to join the Tulalip youth for Nayea's Thursday night show.
The show was created specifically for tribal youth and is not open to the
public.

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@....

Find out more

To find out about Grammy award-winning American Indian singer Star Nayea,
and to hear samples of her music, go online to www.starnayea.com.