Ashleigh

About Ashleigh

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!

More About Ashleigh Jerkatis


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!