Lipa Schmeltzer interview....

The Jewish Entertainment Magazine has interviewed Lipa Schmeltzer. Here are some questions:

JE: What was your deciding factor in becoming a heimishe singer, as they say?


Lipa: It's very funny. I never decided that I'm going to become a singer. I was always dreaming about singing, but I never made a decision to become a singer. When I was a chosson, I started to sing at weddings for free. Then someone gave me $100 to sing at a wedding. I grammed by my first mitzvah tanz when I was still a bochur. My brother-in-law asked me to gram at his brother's wedding. Then I started singing unofficially.


JE: What do you mean "unofficially"?


Lipa: I was working for a butcher in New Square.


JE: As a shochet?


Lipa: No, I schlepped chicken. I delivered chicken and fish in New Square. That's right, I'm not embarrassed.


JE: An honest living, huh?


Lipa: Yes, an honest living. I was doing it part time, and I was in kollel part time. But I was singing wherever and whenever I was called. One night I stayed up till 4am and I couldn't wake up in time for my job. My boss called me. "Where are you? People are waiting for their chicken." But I was too tired. So he told me, I think you better just sing and forget about this job. And the rest is history.

Filed under:Jewish Music,Music,Judaism,Lipa.