When Valerie DeLaCruz was growing up, her family and friends were certain she would become an artist. Her obvious ability in the visual arts made it seem clear that would be her calling. Well, Valerie has in fact become an artist--a musical artist. "I love drawing," says Valerie. "It's as natural as breathing to me. But so is singing, and nothing gives me the feeling of joy I get when I'm singing." As a child growing up in the shadow of upstate New York/'s Adirondack Mountains, Valerie would sit on her mother's hope chest inventing her own harmonies to songs she heard on the radio. Her grandfather, a fiddle player, often took her to the local record store to pick out any single she wanted. Valerie's selections ranged from the Four Seasons and the Beatles to, later, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and Patsy Cline. Valerie was performing her own music as early as age 15, when she opened for Johnny Rivers. As a teenager she played guitar and sang...