Eliza Smith: Using Music to Replace Fear with Faith

by Cyrus Webb

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to cause us to look at our lives and where we are in the world a little differently. That was surely the case for Eliza Smith.

Singing was something she loved and with her brother as her biggest cheerleader she had made a goal of pursuing it. With he passed away at the age of 17 Eliza knew that she had to keep going not just for herself but for his memory and all that he was to continue as well.

"It's been absolutely amazing," Eliza told me during our conversation when I asked her about what it has been like to share her musical gift with the world. "For me this is what I am meant to do." She went on to say that she knew this was always what she was meant to do, and for the past ten years she has been doing just that.

When talking about her brother and the impact he had on her career as a musician, it is obvious the two are intertwined. Forming a non- profit organization called the “Ride Free Community Association.” Eliza has put on several benefit concerts in a span of the past few years to raise money to build a skate park on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, the very place where her brother and her spent hours skateboarding. "He was supportive of the music I made," she told me. "That is why I am so dedicated. Giving up on music would be like I was giving up on him."

After listening to some of Eliza's music I told her I felt as though she was in a unique position to capture the emotions of those who would hear her. "When I write something it's personal, but you want to be able to touch people and get them to relate to it," she told me. "If I can do that for people in any way I think my job (as an artist) is done."

Music is something special for Eliza. "This isn't what I do," she says. "It's who I am. If I try to be somebody I'm not it's not going to work. I realized that I'm at my best when I am just being myself."


Social media had done wonders for her journey to share her music with the world as well. "The way the world works now is the internet," she says. "The majority of the opportunities I have gotten have been because of my constantly promoting myself." The worldwide web has been the centerpiece of that promotion.

The lesson? "You have to believe in yourself," Eliza says to anyone with a dream or a vision. "No matter what, you are going to have doubters. For years I felt I was fighting for everything.  All I had was myself. Who knows where I'd be if I had given up. If this is something you really want to do, you have to find out every aspect around it." 

Stay in contact with Eliza Smith on Twitter at @elizasmithmusic. To discover her music and what's coming up for her visit www.elizasmusic.com.