Living a real-life dream come
true, musician Sherma Andrews,
of Ridgewood, is
working to bring people together with
the gift of music.
Starting at the young age of 4-anda
half in Trinidad, Andrews always knew
she was meant for a life of music. That
Christmas, she received an accordion,
and after her rendition of “Joy to the
World,” everyone surrounding her was
sure of her talents.
“It felt normal, and then I realized
like, ‘Oh, why
is everyone looking
at me, just 'cause I’m
4-and-a-half, playing
the accordion? That’s
not a big deal.’ But
that was special, and I
later found out I had
perfect pitch and that I
was a child prodigy,”
she said.
By seven, she had started playing
the organ at her church, her feet barely
able to reach the pedals. She then
moved onto singing, and that’s where
she found her passion.
“It was just something that made
me feel happy and natural and being on
stage isn’t scary for me,” Andrews said.
“It felt like the most comfortable to
me. I don’t know why, but I’m so happy
and comfortable doing music.”
Her career began there. With her
love of singing stemmed from growing
up in a musical family, Andrews began
singing for parties, weddings and other
types of events. Then, another opportunity
was presented to her: a full
scholarship at Berklee College of
Music in Boston. From there, she
moved onto teaching at Berklee after
she had graduated.
By Tara DeLorenzo
With her brother’s encouragement
too, Andrews also began to dabble in
songwriting, putting her stories to
melody. And with that, she was able to
take her career to new heights.
“Then, I went on tour with Enrique
Iglesias and, on that tour, I met Whitney
Houston. I filled in for Whitney Houston.
Also, my songwriting won the
Caribbean Song Festival. All these great
things were happening to me, and it
just kept going from there. I met some
great people; it’s a lot of fun seeing that
people are actually enjoying what I do,
not just me enjoying what I do, but
others too. I love it, and it’s really cool
to have that experience,” she said.
Her songs have also been featured
on soap operas like The Young and the
Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.
Andrews’ first album “Guilty” was