14 year old Ashleigh Believes in Followong her dreams and since she was only 5 years old that dream was to be a professional singer and actress!Ashleigh has been singing at local bars such as , Rocco's Little Italy,Rockwellz,and Gatto's since she was 9 years old. She has opened up for ONS at The Majestic Theatre in Streator Illinois and Shawn Gallaway at the Mind,Body,Spirit, Fair in Orland Park, IL! Since 2009 has started Ashleigh has gotten the amazing oppurtunity to have some of the songs she has written produced by some extremely talented producers, Richard Fink, out of New York Grammy Award Winning producer Barry Goldstein out ofand New York City! This Summer Ashleigh was a Decatur finalist in The Colgate Country Showdown and was the 1st place winner in both New Lenox Idol and Orland Days Singing Competition!Ashleigh is a member of The Nashvillle Spotlight Kid's Club and has performed at The Nashville Palace 2 times this Summer. As well as singing Ashleigh loves to act and has been training at The Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston, IL for 6 years. There she is a member of both the Advanced Teen Conservatory and The Performance Project. Ashleigh was most recently seen as the Frog Princess in The Performance Projects production of "In a Fairytale World". Ashleigh is at a very exciting point in her career and is very excited to keep moving forward with it!!! She hopes to someday inspire others to follow their dreams!She may not know what she's doing, but she sure knows where she wants to go:)

In the summer of 2009, Fourteen year old Ashleigh Jerkatis had the amazing opportunity to work with Grammy Award Winning Producer Barry Goldstein from New York City to bring to life just a few of her many self written songs. Ashleigh believes in following her dreams. Since she was only 5 years old, that dream was to be a professional singer and to let the world hear her voice! When Ashleigh was 9 years old, she began singing in many Chicago area restaurants. Ashleigh began writing songs at the age of 10, that were years beyond her experiences. Many times she would wake up with a song coming to her and she would get out of bed grab the guitar and begin writing. She has self written nearly 100 songs to date. At the age of 13, she began opening for various bands including a 45 minute acoustic performance at The Majestic Theatre in Streator, Illinois. Also in the summer of 2009, Ashleigh traveled to Rochester, New York to co-write the song "Break In Two" with the amazingly talented Richard Fink IV and Johnny Cummings at Castle Nine Entertainment. Since 2009, Ashleigh was a Decatur Finalist in The Colgate Country Showdown, and was the 1st place winner in both New Lenox Idol and Orland Days Singing Competitions in her home state of Illinois! Ashleigh is a member of The Nashville Spotlight Kid's Club and has performed at The Nashville Palace many times. Ashleigh is very excited to keep moving forward with her career!!! She hopes to someday inspire others to follow their dreams! A message from Ashleigh: My debut cd is called DEFY. The word "defy" means to take a stand. The act of defying is a celebration of power. Each of my songs carries an example of a defying moment. In "So Long Baby" I am celebrating the power that I have to walk away and to be free. I am standing up for my rights. In "This Love" I am celebrating the power that I have to follow my heart. I am fearlessly walking down the path to my dreams and not letting anyone bring me down. "Late December" has a different type of defy involved. I am celebrating the power of defeat. I am demanding an answer to the unknown. In "Break In Two" I am celebrating the power of invincibility of the fact that no one can break me. I am unstoppable! Working on these songs was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I will never forget it. I got to travel to New York twice last summer! I am so happy with the way my songs turned out, but I could not have done this all by myself. I had a vision for each and every one of these songs and thanks to Barry Goldstein and Richard Fink...my visions came to life! They both did an amazing job collaborating with me! What began as just me and my guitar, turned into something even better than I had ever imagined! I would just like to say THANK YOU for bringing these songs to life! I would like to give a special thank you to Barry Goldstein, for allowing me to use his song, "There's An Angel Watching You" as a gift to help me raise funds to complete a full length version of this cd. I appreciate his kind gesture. I am very excited about finishing this project! A little bit about the songs... The song "This Love" came through me. The song describes a dream where a wise being comes to me and tells me to follow my dreams, believe in myself and to feel the LOVE! The song has an infectious beat and leaves you feeling uplifted! This song came to me very quickly...almost like my hand was racing to write these lyrics down all by itself. I feel like the wise being was my grandfather, who I was very close to in life. The song was actually written on May 7, 2009...my grandfather's birthday! May 7th 2009, was also the day that Barry Goldstein approached my parents about producing my music! "So Long Baby" is a catchy tune that inspires people to reach for change and not to stay in situations where they are being undervalued. It is about getting rid of your baggage and fighting for your rights. It is about taking action and making change! The song was inspired by an event in my own life. I am glad for the experience because it gave birth to this amazing song. "Late December" was written in November of 2008. It is the emotional journey of a person who suddenly finds them self alone and no longer feels like they know who they are and where they fit in. This song came to me, not being inspired by anything personal. "There's An Angel Watching You" was written by my producer, the Grammy Award Winning Barry Goldstein. This beautiful song is very inspirational and moving. I am accompanied by beautiful piano music. "Break In Two" was co written by myself, Richard Fink IV and Johnny Cummings. I would like to dedicate this song to all the people who tried to "Break me In Two" and stop me from achieving my dream. This song was inspired by a song that I wrote called "Break Me." Along my journey, many people have told me that I need to be "practical" and to not be such a dreamer. Including one of my school teachers who said, "I doubt we will ever be listening to Ashleigh J. on our IPods," on career day. This song is about following your dreams and not letting anyone or anything come between you and what you were born to do. No matter what your dream is...no one can take it from you unless you let them! Thank you for supporting my dreams and purchasing my music! I hope you enjoy my songs! Keep checking back for this is only the beginning.

Check out my new single "ALONE" Please let me know what you think!!