Meet Christine Burnette of Rocket City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Burnette.

Christine is originally from New England, daughter to a family who ran a successful clothing store business for 41 years. Music has been in her blood as long as she can remember, and discovered by her parents at the tender age of 3. Christine started taking dance lessons, and asked her parents to listen to her sing. The next thing you know, she had a whole bedroom full of instruments, from xylophones to drums, to tape recorders, and a Casio keyboard. At the age of 10, Christine’s music teacher, the (late) Kate Grana, discovered that Christine could sing, and had natural talent. At a parent/teacher conference, Ms. Grana encouraged her parents to help her learn how to read music. This led to Christine getting her first flute. She adapted well to the instrument, and took private lessons until she was 17. During this time, Christine taught herself how to play the saxophone, guitar, piccolo, piano, marimba, and congas; She also learned how to compose lyrics and music. Christine explains, “The biggest challenge for me growing up in the music world was that I had a learning disability with reading; sometimes sheet music became overwhelming for me to read, so I always memorized everything. People never understood how I was doing it, but I was always able to hear music first, and then I could play it back, or sing it just like I heard it. I would be the only one in band or chorus without any sheet music or a music stand in front of me.” After high school, Christine was supposed to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. However, she decided that was not the route she wanted to take.

Life experiences were more appealing to Christine, and she decided to make the best of them. She moved to Newport, RI at 19 years old. Working during the day and performing at various places at night was a “great time in my life,” she explains. At 22, Christine had a daughter, Merceides, and decided to put music on hold. She attended college and studied for a Bachelor in Science majoring in Sociology and minoring in Creative Writing. She then worked as a case manager for almost 18 years. During all this time, she became a recording artist and recorded her original works “as best as I could.” Other projects consisted of Christine being a cheerleading coach for several years; as well as a dance instructor. She ran a dance studio for several years with her friend Cat Fogarty. From 2000-2012 she was also a makeup artist, and free-lanced for M.A.C. Cosmetics, and worked behind a Lanôme counter. Christine also took a few music courses in college, one of them being voice lessons. “Singing always came easy to me, and with voice lessons, I learned how to control and perfect my craft.” She was a devoted mother to her daughter and concentrated on that. Merceides was a star-athlete in high school, and was also a dancer, taught by no other than Christine.

When her daughter was in her third year of college, Christine decided that she needed a change. It was 2012 when she first came to Florida. “I came here to start something new, and to get away from the cold.” -smile- The hardest part was leaving my daughter and family of course, but something within me was calling me to go.” Christine started attending open mike jams and working her way through the music scene in FL. She recalls it “being a challenge because no one would help me; I was the new girl,” she explains. Little by little, Christine started performing as a solo artist, but realizing she needed to form a band or duo.

It was 2014 when she met her multi-talented husband, Dave Burnette. Dave is a multi-instrumentalist-artist with original works, as well as over 30 years of experience in the audio/visual world. Christine says, “When I first met Dave, he was this wild dude just coming back from living in Belize who relocated to Florida…lol….I soon learned how talented he was, and was intrigued. We started off just jamming around with songs, going on dates, and such. But then, we fell in love rather quickly. I did not expect it, and neither did Dave. It was amazing.”

Christine and Dave formed a duo called, “Grand Finale,” which stared off slow, but working up to be one of the most sought-after duos in FL. However, life challenges hit hard when Dave was diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2015. “It was awful; A real dark time in our lives. I left my day job to be there for my husband; he needed 24/7 care due to reactions from chemotherapy and radiation. I performed as a solo artist for a while, but had to stop doing it because my husband was so sick. He almost passed away twice. I became depressed and didn’t really talk to anyone for a while.” Dave ended up surviving cancer, and started to feel better by the end of 2015, and encouraged Christine to sing and create music again. It was then when Christine and Dave decided to try something new.

“I wanted to form a dance band revolving around my wife’s unique voice. I know every inch of the way she sings, and I wanted to be in charge of the audio component for the new project.” Dave explains. Through trial and error, they built, “Rocket City,” with some of the best musicians in the country. “We didn’t know what to expect, so we just rolled with it.” Christine says, “If we were going to do it, we were going to do it right.” Rocket City is a premier dance band that can expand from a 3-piece to 9-piece, (with a horn section).

The band started in October 2015. At first, Rocket City only catered to local venues to get their feet wet. Now, the band “blew up rather quickly” as Christine explains after putting in a lot of hard work. “I had a vision for the band; and that was to perform the most current radio hits mixed in with older retro tunes in a unique style, almost like a live DJ where we roll into song after song. I have never performed songs just like the record. I like to take songs and break them down the way that I hear it.” She further explains, “Rocket City also performs some of my original works. I like to collaborate with other artists as well. I knew this project would be good because my husband is a master when it comes to engineering audio, and our sound is very hard to dub.” Collectively, band members collaborate and rehearse frequently to be “on point” with the material. “We now perform at a lot of corporate venues, on cruise ships, weddings, festivals, private parties, and will always keep loyalty to the local venues who have always been there for us since day one. We like to travel, so when we receive opportunities to perform outside of FL, on the west coast, or up north in FL, we always get excited,” Christine states.

“We have a great line-up right now; some of the band members have been with us since the beginning.” Peter Kalata is the band’s guitarist. “Pete has been with us since day one, he is also a vocalist and sings some of the rock portion of our material. Maurice Paterson is our savant bass player. He is a unique left-handed bass player- we dubbed him ‘The King of South Paw.’ He is also a fantastic performer and fun to watch. Our musical director, Patrick Green is an incredible keyboardist and vocalist. He is also a composer with 5 albums under his belt; He became our musical director because he is very good with assisting us with key signatures and production of the band. Our drummer, Jesse Moore, is an awesome groove-drummer keeping the dance floor busy with intricate sticking styles and producing sounds off his electronic drum kit. He gives us the dance beats we need in order to execute some of the songs we do.

Rocket City is now the go-to band if you really want to dance. We have seen some of our followers move tables and chairs at venues just so they can dance. Most people know what to expect from Rocket City- high energy, non-stop dancing, and having a great time. “It is very important to us to create these moments in time so that folks can have great memories. We bring a vibrant ambiance to every performance where as you just can’t help it to do nothing other than groove!”

The band is moving in the direction of becoming an all-original band mixed with cover tunes. “I love to be in the (recording) studio,” says Christine, “I am working really hard this year to create some new music as well as finishing up songs that have already been done. I have A LOT to say musically. I had to wait on the copyright from the library of congress on a couple of songs, but we are quickly moving forward with all new material. I have learned to be patient, not to rush, and do things right. ” Dave explains that he will be the one mastering all recordings Christine does. “I am re-building our studio so that I can give all the new material some color. I truly enjoy doing what I do.”

Christine explains, “In order to be successful, you have to want it. You cannot just sit around and expect shows to magically appear. I grew up in a very business-oriented family, so the business aspect of what I do with music comes easily. Every day, Dave and I are consistently working on building our brand. I can be locked in my office for days working on original music, securing performance dates with venues, creating online flyers, creating set lists, etc. The list goes on. My husband is always researching products to take our sound to the next level; He also gets hired by other artists and bands to engineer their shows. A lot goes on behind the scenes.”

Christine, Dave, and the band, Rocket City, look forward to touring the state of Florida in the near future and sharing their music with you.

Christine’s own words: “I always tell people to just ‘do you.’ I you feel something, believe it. You do not have to be famous to be a legend.”

To keep up with Rocket City, you can find them on facebook at: www.facebook.com/rocketcityfl, on instagram: www.instagram.com/rocketcityfl, and their EPK is: www.artistecard.com/rocketcity. To follow Christine, facebook and instagram handles are the same: @christineburnetteofficial

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