<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"facebook dialogPinterest\n\nLauren with the Spring Awakening cast in 2007\n\nThe Lauren Diaries: Lauren says that since she was young, she&amp;#39;s kept a journal. Pictured is one of her recent volumes, which features some rough lyrics.\n\nfacebook dialogPinterest\n\nLeigh Belz talks to soul singer Lauren Pritchard about reggae bands, her part in rock musical Spring Awakening, and passing on Glee.\n\nA month before the U.S. release of her bluesy debut album, Wasted in Jackson, Lauren Pritchard is expounding on singing, theater, and the power of &amp;quot;yes.&amp;quot; When Lauren was sixteen, she convinced her parents to let her move from Jackson, Tennessee, to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the music industry. &amp;quot;I was just dead set on being a singer,&amp;quot; the now-22-year-old says. &amp;quot;I never really saw any other option.&amp;quot; Once in California, she took up any opportunity to perform professionally--including, despite her tender age, an offer to join local reggae group Cipes and the People as a vocalist and keyboard player. Why not?\n\nLauren was also saying yes to acting auditions. A year after she moved to the West Coast, she was cast as Ilse in the play Spring Awakening and moved East. But, though she says she loved performing on Broadway alongside Lea Michele, Lauren wanted to keep true to her original dream of being a singer-songwriter. After signing a publishing deal in 2007, she left the show and traveled to London to work on soulful, vintage-flavored songs that she says were inspired by Carole King, lauryn hill, and Aretha Franklin.\n\nHollywood tried to pull Lauren back West in 2009, when she was asked to audition for FOX&amp;#39;s Glee. (&amp;quot;The whole cast of Spring Awakening went out for Glee,&amp;quot; she says with a laugh. &amp;quot;I remember sitting in the waiting room with everyone, going, This is a bit strange.&amp;quot;) After a few meetings she took herself out of the running. She went back to England and within months was signed by Amy Winehouse&amp;#39;s A&amp;amp;R rep to a U.K. record deal with Island--an offer from U.S. label Universal Republic came not long after. &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ve been really freaking fortunate in the things that have happened,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;But a lot of that has come from me saying yes: Yes, I will move to New York and London--it&amp;#39;s a little bit scary, but I don&amp;#39;t care. If you close the door, you don&amp;#39;t give yourself all the options that are possible.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.teenvogue.com/story/lauren-pritchard>