Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla and Kelli Iutzwig.
Kayla and Kelli, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We have always had a deep passion for the arts since a very young age. We started out at ages five and six doing dance and musical theater. We began taking professional voice lessons at that time. We instantly fell in love with the singing aspect of musical theater and started auditioning for as many plays as we could. We always seemed to land the singing roles. During this period of time, we would sing at home together and learned to harmonize really well together. We noticed that blending our voices just seemed to come naturally.
Many years later in 2016, at ages 11 and 12, we decided to enter a singing contest put on by the Houston Rodeo called “Rodeo Rockstar.” We made it all the way to the semifinals that year and the finals the following year. We were also interviewed by our local Fox 26 News and featured on TV both times. We knew after the first competition that we wanted to form a duo and pursue music as a career. It was at that point that we decided to leave the world of theater and dance, and never look back.
2016 Houston Chronicle Coverage:
https://www.chron.com/
2016 Fox News Coverage:
https://youtu.be/Ceok25EWmTU
https://youtu.be/9vk_U_gjOzo
2017 Rodeo Rockstar Footage:
https://youtu.be/NTa3KBkKpJs
Our parents have always been 100% supportive of any of our endeavors, and music was no different. Our dad has played guitar since he was a teenager and he is also a songwriter. He played in our church’s contemporary worship band for many years as well. Naturally, music was always a huge focus in our house growing up. Our mom also loves music and was involved in dance when she was a teenager, so the arts flourished in our household. When we began our duo “Wild Fire,” both of our parents went to work right away and helped us set up our web site, social media sites, purchase merchandise, and book gigs.
Over the next few years we began writing songs, learning to play guitar and other instruments, and marketing our brand. Soon we were booking gigs and performing out around Houston. We have performed at many notable venues in Houston such as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, NRG Stadium, NRG Arena, Kemah Boardwalk, Dosey Doe, Firehouse Saloon, Liberty Opry, Sugarland Opry, the University of Houston Stadium and many more. We released our first, self-titled EP in 2017. The EP was produced by Houston’s own Nick Matzke, a Berklee graduate and one of the top guitarists in Houston.
Nick Matzke Links:
http://www.nickmatzke.com
https://www.bayviewaudio.com
In 2018, we decided to take it to the next level. We took first prize as Female Vocalist of the Year in the Young Adult category at the Josie Music Awards. We were also nominated for multiple awards by the Texas Country Music Association and the Josie Music Awards. We also decided to undergo a major shift in our sound from Country Rock to Pop Country. We began working with Jake McKim, founder of Birch Street Music A&R. Jake has worked with some incredible artists including Beyonce, Chloe X Halle, Maddie and Tae and many more. Jake began pairing us up with hit songwriters such as Shane Stevens, Bonnie Baker, and Maria Christensen. He also paired us up with multi-platinum producer Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae (Britney Spears, Meghan Trainor, Rachel Platten). We wrote an incredible number of songs in 2018 and selected the top six for our next project. We recorded the songs in LA in late 2018. The new EP titled “Been There.” was released in April 2019.
Birch Street Music:
https://www.birchstreetmusic.
Songwriters:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.bkermusic.com/about
https://www.allmusic.com/
Producer:
https://www.nashoverstreet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Josie Music Awards:
https://youtu.be/b_ngZ66XHsM
With our new EP “Been There.” now released, we are in the promotional phase. We are also writing new material and have plans to record new music this year. We look forward to what the future holds!
Great Day Houston Feature:
https://www.khou.com/article/
Has it been a smooth road?
There have definitely been struggles along the way. When we first started out people did not take us seriously. It’s understandable. We were so young and kids often get involved in certain activities and eventually go in a different direction. That is not the case for us. We are very passionate about what we do and intend to pursue it for the long term. We have no doubt that this is our destiny.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Wild Fire – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Our passion is to share our music with the world and in doing so help others in their struggles and uncertainties in life. We want our fans to feel inspired, empowered and motivated to be the best that they can be. We strive to engage with our fans on a regular basis so they can get to know us. We host Instagram Live’s every Sunday from 7:00PM – 8:00PM CST where we bring fans on our live stream to talk about anything they want and answer their questions. We feel this is a huge part of who we are and what we do.
We are most proud of our fans and the relationship we have with them. In a few short years, we have grown our following to over 125,000 across our socials. Back when we started we never imagined we would have such a large following in a short amount of time. We value every single fan and always make it a point to reach out and thank them and make them feel welcome. We feel that our fans are our family.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wildfiresings.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/wildfiresings
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildfiresings
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/wildfiresingers
- Other: www.youtube.com/c/WildFireSings
Image Credit:
Rob Iutzwig, Amy Smith, Joylita Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
