Clayton Bellamy, country music rock star, returned to his hometown of Bonnyville on March 6 for the premier of his newest record "Everyone's a Dreamer," as well as to visit schools in northern Alberta while following the same theme to encourage them to follow their dreams.
"What are you going to do with your life?" bellowed Bellamy during a concert at Bonnyville Centreal High School. "With your life!" he screamed into the microphone, echoing through the school.
Bellamy led an inspirational and interactive presentation to students, staff and parents consisting of a live concert, video interview clips from other successful and famous dream-followers, including Man Tracker, as well as anecdotes from the rockabilly country star himself.
"What are you going to do with your life? It's probably the most important question that anyone is every going to be asked," he said, kick-starting the presentation with an interactive live concert presentation.
"For some people, it may be a little easier to figure out than others. For me, it was easy. I always knew I wanted to be a musician. That's all I've ever wanted to do since I was about nine years old. I still want to be a musician, I'm still trying get better, I'm still trying to learn."
He said when he was young, his parents told him: "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." This is what Bellamy encouraged BCHS students to do.
"It's not exactly a prescription to be lazy," he said to the reaction of some students claiming they love to sleep and play video games.
"If you're doing something you're passionate about, it doesn't feel like the grime. Being a musician is hard work...but it doesn't feel like the grime if I'm doing something that I love."
Start with a plan. Bellamy said the course of the plan may change but it is important to set a goal and stick to it.
"The plan doesn't matter as long as you stick to the goal. The plan can change but the goal stays the same," he said.
He shared that in order to become a successful musician, which was his plan in high school, he knew he had to go to school to learn everything he could about music. So when he was 17, he headed off to college in Red Deer.
"The most important point is to make a plan and follow through. Because if you don't have a plan, what do you have? Nothing. You've got squat," he said, sharing his five-year plan he made for himself in high school. "I wanted to be something and I wanted to follow through on it."
An important step in your plan should consist of meeting successful professionals in your career path and learning all you can from them.
"Surround yourself with excellence," he said. He asked BCHS students what they thought this meant.
"Surround yourself with people who can help you," said one student, which was exactly what Bellamy meant by the statement.
"You can't get any good at what you do unless you're around people who are good at what you do. Learn from them," he said. "The greatness rubs off on us when you surround yourself with excellence."
Bellamy also told the students to remember to ask for help and not to rely on "luck."
He feels "there's no such thing as luck."
In college, he was taught that "luck is preparation meeting opportunity," and has lived by that advice since then. He encourages teens to practice at what they're good and what their goal is so when an opportunity comes their way, they can create their own luck.
And that's just want Bellamy did in college. He sold everything he could so he could pursue his dreams to be a musician, touring through North America so he could practice his skills to perfection.
Then one day, what some might call luck but what Bellamy would call a combination of preparation and opportunity, came along: Jason McCoy asked him to join The Road Hammers.
After a successful run with The Road Hammers, Bellamy has decided to fly solo. He released his first solo record, "Everyone's a Dreamer," on March 6, while at BCHS.
"It was produced by five-time Grammy winner Ray Kennedy (and) was a year in the making," said Bellamy. "It's my first solo release since The Road Hammers. It's been flying up the charts...we're doing really well at radio and everybody's latching on and passing on the message."
Bellamy said he's really been enjoying the school performances he's been doing through rural, northern Alberta. His favourite part is "Just inspiring kids to follow their dreams."
"I'd love to take the program nation-wide. I'm really passionate about reaching the next generation," he said. "I'm a big believer in that it takes a village to raise a child. I feel like I'm a product of that because I wouldn't have succeeded in what I wanted to do for a living and my dreams had it not been for my teachers and parents and friends and the community.
"So now to be able to give back to that, to the next generation of kids, is something that I'm really passionate about and hopefully affecting a lot of change."
Bellamy performed two performances at BCHS on March 6, as well as two at Nelson Heights School, in Cold Lake, on March 5; one at Glendon High School on March 7; two at J.A. Williams High School in Lac La Biche on March 8; and one performance at Ecole Plamondon High School on March 9, before returning to Bonnyville to perform at the Opry Saturday night.
