Singer Carmen Brandy Says Goodbye to Safety Harbor

The 15-year-old and her family recently relocated to Nashville in order to help Carmen pursue her dream of becoming a country music star.

Carmen Brandy, the talented young singer who has seen her career explode in the last year, recently traded the cozy confines of Safety Harbor to the bright lights of Nashville, Tennessee.

Well, technically the Brandys moved to a similarly cozy suburb of Music City called Franklin, where Carmen can grow up in a small-town environment while she pursues her dream of becoming a country music star.

But despite the magnitude of the move, Brandy, whose mature outlook on life belies her 15 years, is not expecting to take Music Row by storm; she knows it’ll take a lot of hard work and dedication if she is going to make her mark in the industry.

“I don’t want to do too much at first,” Carmen told Safety Harbor Connect before she moved. “I want to write my music, get comfortable with the songwriters and radio in the area, and ease my way into it.”

“I know I’m not ready yet to be signed,” she added. “I know I can be a better singer, a better songwriter and a better performer, so I don’t want to sign too early when I know I’m not ready for it.”

That kind of perspective is typical for the former Safety Harbor Middle School student.

Despite all her success – she won the Largo Teen Idol contest in March and released her second EP in August – Carmen’s family has always provided the support and guidance needed to make sure her dreams were always rooted in reality.

“We’re not naïve, we know this is a long process,” mom Kari, who serves as Carmen’s manager, said. “We’ll just do the best we can do for her and put our faith in God to take care of everything else.”

“But school is a priority, and Carmen knows that!” she added.

As she prepares to enter the next phase of her young life, Carmen isn’t wistful or sad over leaving her longtime Florida home.

“I don’t have a problem with change,” she said. “I’ll miss coming here to Starbucks and I’ll miss my friends. But I can’t stay in one place for the rest of my life. I am a ‘go-go-go’ person!”

But just because she is putting the Harbor behind now, that doesn’t mean she can’t come back.

It’s all part of the singer’s “20-year plan”, which includes getting established as a songwriter, having her music played on the air, signing with a publishing house and making a name for herself in the industry.

“I hope by the time I’m 25 or 30, I’ll have enough money to buy a home here so I can go back and forth!” she said with a smile.