Tavares started performing from a young age with the House of Music program, a nonprofit her father, Brent Tavares, now a vocal teacher and singer with the Tavares group, created to teach local youth about music and help keep them off the streets. Personally, I think I had a different experience.
I went to Carney Academy for elementary school and then I went to private school for middle and high school. I was really determined and focused there. We really had no choice. It was a really rigorous schedule for to year-olds. And then after that I went off to boarding school. New Bedford is where [music] all started for me.
Just being able to have an artistic outlet at the age of 5 and on — I just feel like New Bedford is one of the only small towns you can really thrive in. MT : We used to do a show every year at the Zeiterion and we would prepare for that all year.
We did a Michael Jackson tribute, a Stevie Wonder tribute, soul, pop, whatever my dad came up with. We would do dances together, we would have Studio A and Studio B. There would be free lunch for the kids every day. You could pick a hot dog, grilled cheese, or a tuna melt. It was just a place for everyone to go every Saturday … and get the kids off the streets, teach them something about music and create a family.
People would be there for years. We would have so many sold out shows at the Zeiterion, which was nuts for kids our age to be on stage having a good old time. So, at 13, in , I up and left to boarding school, and I could still come back on the weekends because it was only an hour away. I feel like boarding school is basically college for high schoolers. I was at school all day every day. I saw the opportunity out there. I was like, I can be an artist in New Bedford but, where else am I going to go?
