Red Roses

Update: Jessica Fernandes is our big winner!

Jessica wrote: My favorite song by AJ is "When we say" because that was the first song I heard with him. It's amazing and it's actually one of the two and only songs I have ever cried while hearing. As far as my favorite craft I would say bracelets. Colorfull in everyway possible! By the way, sorry to hear about your mom. Hope you feel better, though it's always hard to lose someone. At least AJ's music will cheer you up!

Jessica.. email me at liacreates [at] gmail [dot] com to give me your contact info!

If you've been around here a while you know one of my favorite musical artists is AJ Rafael. AJ has been playing piano at my church since he was a child. He's incredibly talented and for the past 6 years has worked full time on his solo career. He's had a lot of success marketing himself on youtube and has used that success to spread the love. He did two VERY successful fundraising concerts at our church and has raised thousands for Autism Speaks through his series of concerts called Music Speaks.

This year AJ worked with some outstanding musicians and recorded his first full-length album in his friend's house. Still unsigned, his album Red Roses was picked up by a distributor & will be sold starting tomorrow in Target, Best Buy, f.y.e and Barnes & Noble nationwide! You can also download it on iTunes & Amazon.

There's really no way to express just how happy I am about this. I've been a fan of AJ's for a long time and I'm so happy to see him succeeding. On a personal level, AJ and his mom were a huge support for me when my mom passed away. AJ's mom is a surgical nurse at the hospital my mom was in during the last week of her life. Ms. Rafael would sit in the waiting room with me and just keep me company while I was there all night. AJ and his choir sang at mom's funeral and went above & beyond, even going up against the head of the music ministry when she didn't want to allow us to use some of the music we had selected.

To make this all the more dear to me, AJ's release date is June 7th... which is the anniversary of my mom's passing. I know if she were still here she would have made me drive her all over town picking up AJ's cd everywhere they'll sell it.

To celebrate my boy's success, I'm giving away one copy of Red Roses to one of you!* You can preview all the songs in the video below. AJ features a lot of other amazing talent on this album. It has broad appeal, strong lyrics, great vocals and you can play each and every song around your kids. :)

To enter: Leave a comment below telling me your favorite song and your favorite craft! On Friday, June 10th I'll randomly choose one comment & send you a free copy of Red Roses and a special treat selected just for you based on your craft!

Be sure to leave some kind of contact info! Email, twitter, whatever...

I'm so excited to share this great music with you! And for those of you who don't win... the cd is a bargin! Look for it!

*Open worldwide... but if you're in Canada I'll have to wait until the postal strike is over to send it out!

Edit: OK, worldwide assuming it's legal to ship there from the United States. :)