Freshmen singer born with rare condition

By: Lianamar Dávila Sanabria/Staff Writer

All those laps Desiree Tizon had to run before choir practice at Orlando’s Osceola High School Chorale could have ended her singing career. While physically strenuous activities can be challenging for healthy people, but for Tizon the risks are significantly increased.

The freshman was born with one kidney and two uteri, a condition that requires her to avoid strenuous activities altogether.

But Tizon joined one of Florida’s best choirs anyway, and her condition didn’t keep her from a fruitful recording career: three singles, all original compositions, posted on her website, www.desireetizon.com.

Although hip-hop is a male dominated business, Tizon wants to change that. The self-proclaimed “hip-hop head, sole collector and biggest J.Cole fan” is an aspiring public relations major who started at the University during Summer B in 2010.

In Fall 2010, Tizon met English major and senior Christina Perez while rushing Phi Sigma Sigma, a sorority who’s philanthropic efforts have included participation in on-campus events such as Golden Idol and the annual Phi Sigma Sigma Fashion Show. Thanks to Phi Sigma Sigma, she has been able to perform around campus.

“She will be famous because she won’t take ‘no’ for an answer; she makes sure she finds her ‘yes,’” said Perez. “She may not be the next Whitney Houston but she doesn’t want to be [because] she will be ‘Dezi’ no matter what situation she’s in.”

Tizon is from the same city where musical talents such as DMX, Lady Gaga, Steven Tyler, Styles P, Jadakiss and Mary J. Blige – one of Desiree’s biggest influences – have emerged from, Yonkers, NY.

Tizon aspires to become another successful female soul artists comparable to the likes of her inspiration, Alicia Keys.

“I started playing piano because of Keys. She can sit and play the piano the whole time, and everyone would love her. Everybody respects her. That’s what I want,” Tizon said.

After Sept. 11, at a time when many were fleeing New York, Desiree’s family moved to Orlando, with a Disney career in her sights.

She enrolled in The Lisa Maile Acting and Modeling School, where acting students were instructed to memorize and record commercials for dissection later. Singing, she realized, was her true calling.

“I liked acting but it just didn’t feel like it was for me. It did help me because I learned how to take constructive criticism,” Tizon said.

When the time came to choose a high school, Desiree passed up the local performing arts school for public school.

“Desi made the right decision by attending Osceola, their choir program was amazing and it opened many doors and opportunities for her.  I’m sure she’ll never regret her decision to do so,” public relations major Amy Faulkner said.

Faulkner, a Phi Sigma Sigma sister, has been friends with Desiree since sixth grade.

The Osceola High School Chorale has won a mass amount of national championships, including the 2009 Cruise Festival Overall Grand Championship Award in the Bahamas on board the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s “Monarch of the Seas.”

Tizon and her chorus were also invited to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York as a part of the 2008 National Carnegie Hall Choir, had the opportunity to sing backup for Kenny Rogers in 2009, and won the national “Music in the Parks” award in Los Angeles in 2010.

Tizon began writing love songs at age seven. Her father, Victor Tizon, was a freestyle DJ for Stevie B., best known for his 1990 hit “Because I Love You (The Postman Song).”

“When Desiree was in kindergarten she wanted to join in the elementary school choir, but you had to be in at least first grade to join and she begged them to let her join and eventually they let her when they heard her sing,” Victor said.

Last summer, Tizon recorded her latest single, a re-interpretation of Fabolous’ “You Be Killin’ ‘Em,” at her uncle’s studio. Her uncle, Isaac Arevalo, is the co-founder and partner of the Coalishun Records production team in Yonkers. A video shot at Club Nocturnal in February is due shortly.

After impressing the owner with her talent, Tizon celebrated her website’s re-launch party at Dream Nightclub in Miami Beach on Jan. 21.

Tizon  just performed songs for Miami artists Kurtiz the Kid and Mercy, will work with Ghost Rider and J. Nics, who has opened up for Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa and Big Sean, and had a meeting with producers Cool and Dre.

On March 6, the 2011 Miami Kidney Walk will take place at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne starting at 8:30 a.m. She’ll walk alongside her sorority sister, whose philanthropy is the National Kidney Foundation, and her father.

About one out of 750 people are born with a single kidney, more commonly males and the left kidney is usually absent more often, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

Like Tizon says in her “You be Killin’ ‘Em” remix, “you girls really need to step it up, nails done, hair done–I do that on the regular.” At 18, she’s already due to be a junior in fall 2011.

“My ultimate goal is to get signed, but at the same time, music is something I love to do,” Tizon said.

1 Comment on "Freshmen singer born with rare condition"

  1. Lady GaGa is NOT from Yonkers

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