DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—When Jill Pickering and Kate Rapier met at BestSemester’s Contemporary Music Center (CMC) during the spring semester of 2003, they immediately knew they wanted to make music together. But it’s a long road from co-writing and recording your first independent CD to reaching a wider audience. On Sunday, Feb. 18th the pace of that journey picked up considerably as Pickering and Rapier performed live and on Fox TV with two-time Grammy winner Kelly Clarkson as she headlined the Nextel Tribute to America at NASCAR’s Daytona 500.
Pickering and Rapier, both graduates of Gordon College (MA), first met Clarkson backstage at one of her concerts. After the duo moved to Los Angeles in September 2006, Clarkson attended one of their shows and asked if they would consider singing backup for her at the Daytona 500. Before thousands of fans at the racetrack and millions watching on television, Pickering and Rapier joined Clarkson to sing three songs, including the #1 hit song “Since U Been Gone,” plus a new song from her upcoming album, “One Minute.”
Get to know their music at http://www.myspace.com/jillandkate and read more about “the Jill and Kate story” at http://www.jillandkate.com.
For more information about the Contemporary Music Center, visit
The Contemporary Music Center is one of 12 semester- or summer-long student programs offered by the CCCU. The programs are categorized as either culture-shaping programs or culture-crossing programs. Culture-shaping programs are: American Studies Program (Washington, D.C.); Contemporary Music Center (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.); Los Angeles Film Studies Center (L.A., Calif.); and Washington Journalism Center (Washington, D.C.). Included in the culture-crossing programs are: Australia Studies Centre; China Studies Program; Latin American Studies Program; Middle East Studies Program; Programmes in Oxford; Russian Studies Program; and Uganda Studies Program. All programs undergo regular site visit evaluations by the Student Academic Programs Commission (SAPC).
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of 182 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 105 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 77 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Council’s mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.
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