About the Author...
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Lane Cura Meng is the author of The Top 20 Secrets of Great Singers: Their Mindset & Methods-- what has been called "a masterpiece work for serious singers" by top names in the music industry. Her reference for excellence is based on her 30 years experience as a performing artist, composer, vocal coach and music director.
Cura Meng created "LANE'S 20/20 WHO'S WHO" - the edgy, though controversial rating system of celebrity, professional career and avocational singers who must meet at least 17 out of the 20 criteria listed in her book. She explains, "Whether I'm teaching or at a book signing, I'm always asked what I think about this singer or that singer. I tell them the truth: many well-known singers and superstars have compromised their greatness for smug complacency. They confuse artistry with commercial success. What's thrown to the curb is the work ethic and artistic values that guaranteed their success in the first place. Unfortunately for their fans, all this translates into mediocre shows, an artist's poor judgement and even the deterioration of an artist's voice, health and ultimately their reputation. My rating system keeps Great Singers on their toes, accountable to the artistic excellence they owe their fans and themselves. It's a win-win situation: the artist fulfills their highest potential and audiences are treated to extraordinary demonstrations of talent. So, everybody's got something to look forward to..."
In 2001 she authored The VOX.X.X. Method, an alternative approach to learning professional quality singing, and the “Somatovibratory Pitch Referencing Method” - a remedial program for students struggling with longstanding pitch acuity problems. She discovered that many of these students had a medical history of multiple ear infections and/or allergies as children which affected their ability to perceive sounds accurately. The most difficult cases among these students had very little exposure to live music. In rare cases, the students had little to no exposure to any music whatsoever.
Cura Meng founded CLUB VOX.X.X. - a "second chance" live music environment for anyone wanting to learn music in any form: as a vocalist, instrumentalist, percussionist or as a member of an ensemble. Based in Boca Raton, Florida, it is the perfect setting for those who have had little to no music education either because their schools had eliminated music programs and/or because they could not afford lessons growing up.
She is a former member of NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) and resident artist with QBD, Ink, an Asian-American Theatre Alliance under the direction of Filipina playwright Reme Grefalda. She led worship services for St. Columba Catholic Church and The Grace of His Presence Church (both in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area) for a total of nine years. She was a former songwriting protégé of international award winning songwriter and publisher, the late Richard Gillinson (former U.S. manager of Tammy Wynette) and vocal pedagogy student of the late composer and author Fred Silver. She is a former grand prize winner of the National Performing Arts Festival.
Cura Meng was born in Norfolk, Virginia and grew up in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area where her family’s musical and artistic talents are well known. Their volunteer entertainment for hospitals, schools, orphanages, veterans, nursing homes, charities, institutions, churches and theaters have been the subject of ongoing media coverage.
She was first taught by her mother, a music and dance instructor and cultural consultant to the Philippine embassy in Washington, D.C. Her father, Ruben, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, provided a great deal of her eclectic exposure to various music genres and their respective artists—Jazz, country and western, big band, swing, blues, pop, rock, opera, Zarzuela, Broadway and world music.
It was musical theatre’s grand tradition of interweaving singing, dancing and drama that inspired Cura Meng to compose her critically acclaimed musical, "Journey Onward" which took seven years to complete. The fiction-based-on-fact musical book is set against the historical backdrop of the AIDS epidemic circa 1983-1986. Journey Onward is the story of Dr. Andreas Silan, an ambitious medical researcher intent on becoming the first scientist to find the cure for AIDS while lobbying for identity disclosure and quarantine of all those infected with the AIDS virus. The tables turn when she tests positive for the HIV virus after an accidental needle stick. Journey Onward premiered September 2003 at the ArtServe Theater in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and was produced by Donna Munaco of 1000 Cranes Productions, Inc.
Cura Meng now resides in Boca Raton, Florida where she teaches vocal artistry and music ensemble in private practice, performing regularly at Boca Raton's Willow Theater and other venues in South Florida. She is the mother of two adult sons, Edward and Elijah, proud owner of a Russian Tortoise named Louise and an extraordinary service animal named Buddicelli Dre D'Angelo.
