He may not have Justin Bieber’s swagger or Katy Perry’s 23-million Twitter followers, nor can he sport a Speedo quite like LMFAO, but Dayton Ricketts recently took a huge step to getting there.
Ricketts, who describes his music as quirky and fun much like that of Bieber, Perry and LMFAO, was recently offered the chance of a lifetime.
The Lumby local spent a surprise-filled day in Los Angeles after being one of five contestants chosen to participate in the Acuvue 1-Day Contest.
The contest saw Ricketts and four others flown to L.A. to be mentored by one of five different celebrities including singer Demi Lovato and musician Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers.
Ricketts was chosen from a total of 1,186 contestants and paired up with celebrity actress Meaghan Martin (Camp Rock, Camp Rock 2, Mean Girls 2) for the day.
“Dayton’s one-day dream was to be a video and music artist. I’m so excited to get him closer to his one-day dream,” said Martin.
The day started off early when Ricketts met Martin for a tour of Hollywood where he got to know the actress a little bit.
Following the tour they quickly got to work, visiting various professionals who helped Ricketts with brand-building, choreography and improvements to some already recorded music. He also took part in an interview with acclaimed DJ/radio host DJ Skee, whose past celebrity interviews include Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga among others.
“Dayton’s day in L.A. was about understanding his audience, finding his voice as a performer, who he is and finding collaborators that could help him bring out his voice,” said Martins.
Music has always been a dream for Ricketts. From a very young age he could be seen entertaining his parents by singing and dancing on the kitchen table.
When Ricketts first started getting serious about his musical career, some of his friends and family shrugged it off, but Ricketts was committed to his music. He purchased his own camera and iPad and started recording his music.
“Instead of just waiting for my big break, I just started doing it all myself,” said Ricketts.
Once he completed and posted a couple of videos to Youtube, family and friends joined him in realizing that his dream was attainable.
“In our small town, stuff like that doesn’t happen, I realized that dreams are possible, you just have to apply yourself and these things can happen.”
Now that he has a couple of songs released and a successful trip to L.A. under his belt, Ricketts knows that his music can only grow from here.
“As you grow, attention is pointed towards you, more people see it and that can provide more opportunities,” said Ricketts.
And those opportunities are already starting to come for the young artist.
Ricketts will be working with producer Teddy Sandman on some new songs that he hopes to release in the next couple of months.
After visiting L.A., Ricketts acknowledges the benefits of moving to a larger city and knows the importance of getting that sort of exposure. That doesn’t mean he’s given up on small towns, in fact he hopes that young artists like himself will have the confidence to put their work out there, just like he did.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, just go get it,” said Ricketts.
For more information on Ricketts visit his website at www.daytonricketts.com
