Susan Colin knew she was born to sing – she just didn’t know what that would entail.
She grew up in New York and studied at Boston University as a voice major. While there she figured out that classical or operatic singing was not for her – plus she noticed there were an awful lot of people who were very talented. She wasn’t the singled-out shining star she had been in high school.
She always enjoyed listening to liturgical music, but it never occurred to her that the bimah could be a place for her. She didn’t see a woman on the bimah until she was 24 years old. Once the lightbulb went off, she knew where she needed to use her talents.
While living in Texas for 18 years, Susan became music director of Congregation Kol Ami in Flower Mound, TX, and knew she had found where she belonged: on a bimah singing cantorial music. She still travels back to Dallas each year to sing for the High Holidays at Adat Chaverim in Plano. Since moving to the Valley two years ago, she has been singing with Rabbi Susan Schanerman at Nefeshsoul, a congregational havurah that meets monthly in Chandler. She has also recorded four CDs and is an award-winning composer.
In addition to her cantorial soloist work, Susan is the owner of the digital Jewish music download site, oySongs.com. She says her mission is “to be the best resource for Jewish music of all kinds.” Her site has gathered music from a myriad of sources: liturgical, holiday and secular. “Cantors, educators, religious leaders and music lovers around the world use oySongs.com for finding and adding to their Jewish music libraries,” she says. Susan looks forward to the site someday becoming as popular as iTunes but for Jewish music alone. Her goal is to have something for everyone, so individuals can relate to Jewish music and Judaism in the way that is most comfortable for them.
As a distributor, Susan enjoys meeting both new and established Jewish artists. She carries sheet music as well as MP3s and works with more than 260 artists (including local cantorial soloist Todd Herzog).
