Born: November 6th, 1990
Raquel started singing as early as elementary school in choirs and for church events. She also took piano for a few months when she was in kindergarten, but discontinued lessons soon after. She moved to Enid in 2001 during her fourth grade year, but didn’t begin playing the guitar until her 7th grade year. “I started playing guitar because my sister started taking lessons and I thought, ‘I can do that.’ So I picked it up and have played ever since.” She started playing on a classical guitar that was later replaced by her Epiphone Les Paul. She never took lessons except for little hints from friends here and there about chords. Mostly everything she plays is by ear and “trial and error.” She played in her church’s youth group where she met Justin Blasier, drummer for Skyline Circle. Raquel also played in a few bands through junior high and high school, one of which was with Justin. However, her main focuses were on leading worship for her youth group and playing in Enid High’s Drumline. She made plans to attend Milligan College in Eastern Tennessee in hopes of pursuing music and worship ministry even further. Ironically her high school career was cut short due to the original guitarist of Skyline Circle leaving the group the summer before her senior year. The guitarist left four days before Skyline Circle had a big show to play. Raquel took on the challenge of learning eight songs in less than three days and went with Justin and Nathan to play the show. Originally it was just to fill in, but over time the three of them knew it would probably last. The only thing keeping Raquel from joining the band was, well… high school. But after many conversations between Nathan Lauderdale and Raquel’s parents, she started making plans to graduate at semester. “I had always dreamed about getting out of school early to play music, and God must have thought it would be funny to answer that eighth grade prayer.” Through tons of prayer, meetings with school officials, and time, Raquel graduated from high school in December 2008. “There were many times I would start to worry about one little detail not working out, but God made everything happen so smoothly. This totally happened because of Him.” Though Raquel still has interests in many areas of music and was eventually accepted to Milligan College, she is more than content in Skyline Circle. “Besides, I’ve learned not to make my own plans anymore. God knows what He’s doing; I’m just following His lead.” |
Equipment: Guitar: Epiphone Les Paul Std., Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings –10’s. |