NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — He’s too young for a broken heart but that hasn’t stopped Kayden Marquez from playing the blues.
His love for the guitar started after a trip to the beach when he was only 7 years old.
“After buying him a ukulele in a Virginia Beach surf shop, he started playing what was on the radio and we were blown away,” said his parents Tim Marquez and Crystal Lee who have no roots in music. They say Kayden, at the age of 7, would hear a song, create the notes, and string them together as a song.
Kayden graduated to the guitar at the age of 9, and he started guitar lessons at the age of 10. He followed instructions in Youtube videos and learned to play other instruments.
“I play a little bit of bass and I play little drums and I play guitar and keyboard,” said Kayden who is a student at Grafton Middle School. Kayden explained his interpretation of the Blues as a feeling.
“You play what you feel. It’s a little like if you are feeling a little sad that’s how you put it in your song; if you are feeling happy, you put it in your song.”
The polite and confident 13-year-old caught the attention of Bobby Blackhat Walters on the local music scene in June of last year.
“We started playing open mics around the area and that’s where Bobby [Blackhat Walters] noticed him,” said Kayden’s father.
“I just happened to walk in and this young man was on the stage and he was just having a ball and he had the whole room captured. I made my way through the crowd and realized it was this young fellow; I was like ‘wow, wow’,” said Blackhat Walters.
Blackhat Walters this year encouraged Kayden to compete in the annual Blues Kid of the Year contest.
“We got the audition tape together and we really were not expecting to win. He didn’t even believe us when we told him he had won. He thought we were kidding,” said Kayden’s father.
The entire family will fly to Chicago where Kayden will perform with some of the best in Blues.
With something in the water, Kayden says he will make it to the top in the music industry.
“I just think it would be really fun to do what you love and get paid and then all the people like you,” said Kayden.