The Comeback Kid!

“When you think you’ve worked hard enough — you haven’t.”

Jimmy Finch, singer and Minneapolis-based voice teacher, was born in show-biz powerhouse Los Angeles, but raised in conservative Lansing, Mich. within a quiet and reserved family and community who have proven to act as both a benefit and a challenge to him. His second-chance comeback as a headlining musical performer forms part of the inspiring story of a determined talent.

Finch first became interested in music at the age of 4 or 5, he says, when his grandmother, who played the church organ, let him sit on the bench with her as she played. “And she’d let me play a note once in a while,” he recalls.  

Finch says his first big good influence was, oddly, a nay-sayer in the person of a high school music teacher. “She was not terribly supportive and not super kind, but all of her no-you-can’t-do-this just inspired me to work harder,” Finch says.

Being gay was “not the popular thing” at the conservative Christian school Finch attended, he recalls, “and that was resonated in the reactions of the teachers as well. So, I would win the state competition, but never get a solo in the school choir. I took the negative energy that was pushed in and thought, well, I’m just going to work harder and be the best.” Choirs, Christmas Pageants and musicals followed this solid resolve.

After his high school years, Finch attended Spring Arbor University, which he described as a private, Christian, Liberal Arts college in Michigan with deep connections to his family. “My great-grandparents were on the Board of Trustees, my grandmother went there during World War II — this was where you go to college” in his family, he says.

At this school, Finch began his first formal voice lessons and honed his piano and conducting skills. “Some of the teachers were good,” he says, while some were less helpful. College-level musical theater and opera performances were also part of his education. Finch graduated from this institution with a bachelor’s of arts in music in 2008.

Following his graduation, Finch was hired as Choir Director at Los Altos Christian Church in Albuquerque, N.M., based on his response to a craigslist ad and a phone interview. “They took a chance on this 22-year-old who had never done this job before,” he recalls. Finch held this position from 2008 to 2012.

Graduate school came into play during his time as a choir director. Finch earned a master’s in voice performance and a master’s in choral conducting at the University of New Mexico and made his professional operatic debut in a production of Carmen in 2009.

At the University of New Mexico, Finch says he studied with the late Marilyn Tyler, who was leading soprano at the Dutch National Opera for 30 years before she began her teaching career. “She was the person who believed in me,” Finch says. “You have to find that person.”

His New York City debut some time later found him singing the tenor solos in Mozart’s Requiem with the Church of the Holy Trinity chorus and orchestra … but he is a baritone. “I worked really hard on the high notes,” he recalls.

Finch says he took a break from full-time musical pursuits from 2012 until last year, working in property management, but keeping his musical interests alive as Choir Director at Grace-Trinity Community Church in Uptown. However, and despite success in the field, he says he “hit a wall” last summer, with the realization, “I just can’t do this anymore.” He quit his professional pursuits with no clear plan on what-next, but he maintained his position as Choir Director at Grace-Trinity.

Enter Lorie Line, Minnesota Musical Hall of Fame member and long-time solo performer who was looking for the right baritone with whom to share her otherwise one-person “Christmas with Lorie Line” show. Finch replied to a social media ad for a performer, sang Christmas carols for Line and established a personal rapport with her, and is now about to embark on his second holiday tour with the noted pianist.

After accepting the position with Lorie Line, MacPhail Center for Music reached out to Finch, who joined the vocal teaching faculty. Finch has been at MacPhail since January and now has 17 students at the school’s downtown location.

This second-chance performing and teaching career means the 37-year-old Finch is getting a bit of a late start as a significant musical force … but it’s happening!

What does the Christmas with Lorie show consist of? “I like to describe it as classical crossover,” Finch says. “Think Josh Groban kind of stuff. All the feel-good parts of the holidays. Very Hallmark Christmas — uplifting and upbeat.”

Last year’s tour with Line found Finch in 30 cities in 30 days, a grueling schedule he recalls as a good time. “This year, we’re doing 34 cities in 36 days,” he says. The tour starts in Phoenix on November 20 and takes in a Midwestern-plus collection of states, including several performances in Minnesota towns and cities.

Finch’s advice to would-be musical performers: “You have to work harder than you think is possible. When you think you’ve worked hard enough — you haven’t. Practice more than you think is necessary. Pedal to the metal until you drop. Don’t give up. You never know when something you’ve always dreamed about will fall in place.”

For tickets to the “Christmas with Lorie Line” show, go to: www.lorieline.com/tour

For more information on Jimmy Finch, including private voice lessons, go to: www.jimmyfinch.com