By Angela Blue

She strums her chords in rhythmic motion, humming, bebopping and belting the lyrics that she so precisely pronounces. Her body sways with the music, her head bobs back and forth and her eyes close as if she’s remembering some past experience that influenced her song. The smile that she can’t help from creeping across her lips is solid proof that she loves what she’s doing, and there’s nowhere in the world she’d rather be right now than on that stage.

Skye Zentz was born in Norfolk and has lived there for most of the 25 years of her life. To sum it up, she is a remarkable soul with a simple attitude and a warm heart. She wears vibrant clothing and enjoys putting on brightly colored eye shadow to accentuate her beauty, not to cover it up. “I want to be who I am, flawed and all,” she says.

Her favorite pastimes include reading poetry, taking pictures, drinking coffee with friends and spending time with her cat, Maui. She’s good at giving advice and helping people, and her music has the ability to break your heart and fix it within the same verse.

Skye has had musical influences her whole life and some even before she was born. When Skye’s mother was pregnant with her, she often sang and played a Bodhran, an Irish frame drum, holding it close to her stomach. “I would attribute that to why I’ve always had a good sense of time,” Skye said.

Skye’s father, Bob Zentz is a well-known musician in Hampton Roads, but Skye never felt pressured to follow in her father’s footsteps. “She wasn’t pushed in any particular direction, but absorbed it through osmosis,” her father said. Skye spent many days at her dad’s music shop, Ramblin’ Conrad’s, where she heard a variety of styles from musicians who would hang out there.

When Skye was 8 years old, her father arranged for her to have guitar lessons at his shop, but Skye couldn’t grasp the concept of the guitar so she put it away and didn’t gain interest again for eight more years. When she was 16, her dad gave her a real guitar, and she remembers thinking, “It is my duty now to pick this up and learn it.”

Skye also learned to play the piano, ukulele, melodica, and banjo and said she’ll play any instrument she can get her hands on. “I don’t think I could pick a favorite,” she said. “Instruments are like flavors of ice cream. You can say that you would be perfectly fine with just having chocolate ice cream, but part of the appreciation for chocolate ice cream is also knowing what vanilla tastes like.”

Skye likes to describe her music’s flavor as savvy pop with a twist of lime, but she identifies with folk music as well. “Folk music in its definition is by the people, for the people, about the people,” she said. Her lyrics are honest and she said there is no candy coating the things she sings about. “It’s pretty raw.”

Her friend of seven years, Diana Ray defines Skye’s music as a cozy home with many wildly decorated rooms. “There's a tiki bar with plucky tropical songs, a smoky bluesy lounge, a front porch with a hootenanny going on. Her songs cover a wide range of emotions and styles.”

Skye has had the opportunity to play at venues in Hampton Roads, Richmond and North Carolina, and she’s instructed ukulele and songwriting classes at Common Ground on the Hill in Maryland. She is currently hosting open mic nights on Thursdays with a friend, Gayla Robinson at the Venue on 35^th.

So far she has recorded two CDs, Legitimate Bohemia and Sprout! The first album is about embracing youth, and the second deals with growing up. “It’s about putting your big girl boots on and getting your life together,” she said.

Skye is getting her life together as she decides where she wants to go with her music. Ken Hicks, family friend and musical supporter for Skye, says although he doesn’t have a definite vision of where Skye will end up, he believes that Skye will always be blowing people away with her music and terrific voice. “Whether or not there’s that magical moment of grabbing that brass ring and winning the musical lottery, I don’t know,” he said. “And I don’t know if she cares; she gets great satisfaction from writing and sharing.”

Ken was right when he said that Skye doesn’t aspire to be famous. “I don’t want notoriety or great fame,” she said. “I just want to live a life that makes me know I’m actively making a difference.” Skye looks to Pete Seeger as her main inspiration because his idea was to get people to sing together rather than sing to them. He used his music to involve people in restoring the Hudson River so his kids could swim there.

Bob Zentz says he can see Skye making a difference through storytelling. “As a singer, you’re a storyteller,” he said. “We create little works of art that somehow touch people’s lives and souls, something they can relate to.” He is proud of his daughter’s success and has high hopes that she’s learned from what she’s watched. “The artistic side of this young lady is well groomed, and I think it will be easy to enjoy what she does.”

Skye also feels happy with everything she’s accomplished so far, but she doesn’t feel done. “There’s a lot more that I need to do for this world,” she said. “Some of it I don’t even know what it is yet, but I’m willing to find out.”