Description :
Eight-year-old Courtney Smith releases second CD
PALERMO, N.D. –– With twins born three months too soon, a mother in this northwestern North Dakota town chronicled in a poem her anger at and eventual acceptance of her daughters’ uncertain future. Years later, “Perfect in His Eyes,” is the title track on eight-year-old Courtney Smith’s second CD.
Courtney – blind as a result of complications from her early birth – sings the words her mother Jenny wrote about her and twin sister Taylor in one of two original songs on the CD. The other, “Dynamite,” was written for and about Courtney by youth pastor Ron Parker, who assisted with Courtney’s previous work.
Courtney weighed a tiny 1 lb. 10 oz. and Taylor was just 1 lb. 13 oz. when they were born on
Feb. 14, 1997. Courtney developed retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disease associated with premies. The disease left Courtney able to detect light in one eye but with no other usable vision, but it hasn’t held her back. The Stanley Elementary second-grader likes to ride bike, swim and shop. She plays and fights with Taylor and brothers Jake, 11 and Justin, 6.
She discovered her love for singing early. Her debut performance was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at a school program as a kindergartner, followed by a performance at an aunt’s wedding in 2004. She went to Image Marketing International in Minot, N.D., that fall to record “Christmas through Courtney’s Eyes.”
“Perfect in His Eyes,” also recorded at Image Marketing, contains 11 of Courtney’s favorite country, patriotic and Christian numbers in addition to two original songs. It can be purchased through Courtney’s Web site, www.courtneysings.com,
|