Skily Smith is a 17-year-old junior in high school with an extraordinary gift of voice. Blind since birth, she was diagnosed with retinopathy of prematurity, a disease caused when the blood vessels that supply the retina were not fully developed at birth.
She has channeled her emotion and talent into music, with her beautiful soprano voice and knack for composing. She began sharing her gift with the Variety Children’s Chorus in 2008, but her story begins long before that time.
Skily said she owes most of her love of music to a teacher at Missouri School for the Blind. She entered Gil Fisher’s class at the age of 4 and fell in love with the art. Mr. Fisher, who retired when Skily was 14, sparked her passion for all music – with a particular emphasis on opera.
She soaks up any music put to her ears. From ages 4-11, Skily lived in the dorms at MSB during the week, and her family became the other children and the dorm mothers. “I had lots of mommies,” Skily said. “They all loved gospel music, so I learned a lot of gospel during that time.”
In high school, she started attending Webster Groves High School part-time, because of the district’s strong music program. “I needed music training I didn’t feel I could get at MSB,” Skily said. She takes choir at Webster, and plays flute in the school band.
Last year, she joined the Variety Children’s Chorus. The chorus has opened up numerous doors for Skily, both musically and socially.
“This is the first time I’ve had friends who are sighted,” Skily said. She has become friends with several of the girls involved with Variety’s chorus with whom she regularly exchanges e-mails and joins for nights at the movies.
“It’s really amazing to have friends who have full vision,” she said.
Skily also received a scholarship from Variety to take voice lessons from Nance St. James, Variety Chorus director and long-time St. Louis vocalist and voice coach.
In October, the Variety Children’s Chorus and St. James’ voice students joined the Junior League Larks for a concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall. The program raised money to send the Variety Chorus to sing at the White House in December.
It was during that concert at the Sheldon, though, that Skily began to make her mark on the St. Louis music scene. She sang a solo, a song she had composed, and captured the hearts of many – including producers at the Sheldon who now plan to create a show for Skily. Their goal is for her to serve as an opening act for other Sheldon productions.
Dale Benz, the Sheldon’s director of operations, approached Skily after the concert in October. He asked, “OK, Skily, what do you want to do?” She replied with a very simple answer, “I want to sing.”
In the meantime, St. Louis musician Greg Schweizer arranged one of Skily’s original compositions – the song she sang at both the Sheldon and the White House – and she recorded eight of her original songs a capella at Clayton Studio. Skily said her inspiration for the songs she composes comes from life experiences, other people and “raw emotion.” She rarely sits down with the intent to write a song – the lyrics and/or melodies come to her as she goes about her normal activities.
St. James is very happy to have Skily in the Variety Children’s Chorus and as one of her students. “She has a fabulous ear and a fabulous memory,” St. James said, “and she’s able to sing really difficult songs.”
Skily does not limit her involvement to music, however. She participates in several activities at MSB, including cheerleading, track and field, and goal ball. Goal ball is a sport that was created for veterans of World War II who were blinded by shrapnel, Skily said, and she described it as “the most fun game ever invented.” She also used to swim and wrestle at MSB, and has performed in several school musicals.
Obviously, Skily doesn’t let anything stand in her way. She loves a challenge, and in addition to her teachers, she credits much of her success to her special equipment – including a recording device, a computer screen reader and a brailler – and her family.
She was adopted at age 11 by a former teacher, whom Skily had in class when she was 5. Her adoptive mother took a liking to Skily right away and says she always wanted to adopt her. She is also musical – and also visually impaired. In fact, she too attended MSB and learned the art of music from Gil Fisher.
Prior to her adoption, Skily was jostled from foster home to foster home when she left MSB on the weekends and during the summers. She said she was so happy on the day she was adopted that she asked her mom if her the date of her adoption could become her birthday – because that was the day she wanted to celebrate, rather than her actual birthdate.
Music truly is Skily’s calling, and she plans to carry her passion over into a career. She will first go to college, and she would like to eventually have a career in either singing or directing – possibly both. For now, she is taking advantage of every opportunity that comes her way, and she is extremely grateful for those chances she has already had.
She has overcome a great deal of adversity in her life, but she never lets it get her down. “When you have a dream, don’t give up on it no matter how many people put you down, or how tough the going gets,” Skily said. “Because if you always run from something when people tell you you can’t do it, then you’ll be running the rest of your life.”