I was born July 24, 1975 to wonderful parents Michael Oilar & Judy McGrew-Oilar. From the time I could even think, I loved music. We lived in a 3 bedroom double-wide mobile home on a farm with tons of cows, chickens, horses and acres to play on. Other family members lived a house up and a house down the street. We would get together as children and go run in the fields. If an opportunity presented itself to listen to records, that’s what I did. I prioritized music over everything else. Kids are known for playing with toys or running around outside. Not this one. My favorite toy was a Winnie The Pooh record player. I took that everywhere I went with my small 45’s.
As a child, I always dreamed of being a “singer” or a “movie star”. In grade school we would hang up blankets or sheets as curtains and we called it building a stage. My cousins and I would build stages and perform for the family by singing with records, telling jokes, act out movie scenes, play make-believe magic, you name it we did it. My cousin Rachael and I would fire up the record player and perform the Kenny Rogers & Kim Carnes 1980’s version of Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer. We must’ve been only 6 or 7 years old at that time. I remember my cousins always driving me bonkers over turning off the music to go play outside. I could sit for hours listening to the same record over and over again. I used to imagine the living room floor as a giant record and I would run around in circles over and over pretending to be dancing or running on a record.
In grade school, my favorite class of the week was music. I always looked forward to the day we had music class. In class, we had a music teacher who had a wall of records we would sing to every week. When the time came for a Christmas or spring concert, she would start playing the songs that we had been singing on the piano and prepared us for the events. That part I didn’t care for as much as singing to the actual records. Overall, music was my best subject all through school. After class, the rest of the day I would daydream about being on stage singing in front of thousands of people. At times, I would get popped in class for daydreaming about being a singer and drawing pictures of stereo equipment instead of focusing on school work.
For years I found myself daydreaming and believing for this reality. Junior high was the start of it all. The librarian put an article in the daily bulletin looking for anyone interested in playing music for our junior high dances. When I heard the teacher read that I flew down to his office immediately after class. I told him I was interested as well as one other girl who responded. He took us to the cafeteria where the sound system was and taught us how to use it during our scheduled library times. Instead of wanting toys, I always preferred tapes & records so by then I had quite a large collection. I ran my first dance supervised and it was incredible. Back then there was no fancy equipment so there was no mixing songs, only putting one single on, then take it off and load another. There was usually 15-20 seconds of silence between songs but everything was cued if they were on tapes so all we had to do was take one tape off and put the next on. Same with the records. I had a blast and had no idea where that path was taking me. All I knew is that it was something that seemed spectacular and excited me every time we had a school dance. I continued to do this and into high school, I received my own mixer as a birthday gift and started mixing tapes with two tape machines and one radio shack microphone. I was asked to start playing music at local weddings and in my head, this was the start of the big time.
In college I started upgrading equipment to professional line. Who knew I’d pursue a career as a professional in the entertainment industry. When I wasn’t in school I was working my butt off to buy the best equipment and stay on top of the music charts. My reputation was becoming widely known and everyone in my home county had heard about me. This spread outside the area and slowly started spreading like a wildfire all up and down the interstate 5 freeway from Southern Washington to Northern California. From that point on, I knew for a fact I was in the right field because I loved doing what I had on my heart since the time I was a baby.
In summary, God puts dreams in our hearts before we’re even born. The dream of entertainment was put in me and it still is here 41 years later. I’m humbled and ever so grateful to God that He has never let the flame run out from the very dream that’s been with me all my life. Here I am today… a music producer, sound engineer, video engineer, public performer, disc jockey, creative media consultant, and now and inspirational leader. God has used that dream for His glory to help people see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m just a mere laborer of my Father here to do His business. I’m here to tell you don’t give up. God has given you a dream and He reminds us we’re never too old you use it. If you feel your flame has ran out, drop me a message for prayer and we’ll ask God to get that fire going again. No matter what you’re going through or what you’ve been through, leave the past behind you because there are great things coming if you just believe. Let’s seek together to help one another overcome obstacles and experience the amazing things waiting in your future. All you have to do is reach for it.
Until then, God bless you all and I’m looking forward to sharing many great things on this amazing journey. Life’s a rollercoaster so hop on board and let’s ride this thing called life together!
–Corey
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus -Philippians 1:6
My He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed -Psalm 20:4
Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart -Psalm 37:4-5