Singer crowned first Lynchburg Star

It’s hard to imagine Alma Hesson in a bad mood.

The Philippines-born singer, who has called Lynchburg home for 20 years, always seems to have a smile on her face and punctuates most of her sentences with an infectious laugh.

‘I remember when I was 7 years old, my dad would pick up the guitar and ask me to sing for his coworkers. I knew right then and there: This is what I want to do.’

- Alma Hesson,
Lynchburg Star winner

It’s that same charisma and stage presence that has earned Hesson a local following with her singing/karaoke/DJ business.

“It’s my energy,” she says. “They say it’s contagious.

“You cannot learn what I do. You have to have it in you.”

One of Hesson’s happiest moments came over the weekend, when she was crowned the Lynchburg Star, winner of Lynch’s Landing’s first singing competition. It was modeled after “American Idol” and has been going on all summer.

On Friday night, Hesson and the 10 other finalists performed during the summer’s last Friday Cheers.

After soliciting suggestions from friends on Facebook — and considering tunes like Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” — Hesson decided to sing Melissa Etheridge’s “Bring Me Some Water.”

During her performance, Hesson worked the stage like a pro, stalking back and forth in her knee-high brown boots and sounding eerily like Etheridge.

The prize pack is pretty hefty: 20 hours of recording studio time, a professional photo shoot, a $50 gift certificate to the Lynchburg Music Company, a spread in Lynchburg Living magazine, and handwritten, signed lyrics and a photo from Lynchburg native and country star Phil Vassar.

But Hesson is most excited about something else.

“Bragging rights,” she says, giggling. “I mean, what else do you want?”

Hesson’s lifelong love of music began when she was a little girl living in the Philippines.

“I remember when I was 7 years old, my dad would pick up the guitar and ask me to sing for his coworkers,” says Hesson, who was one of 12 children.

During those performances, her father’s friends passed the hat around, and her father would give her the money.

“I knew right then and there: This is what I want to do.”

By the time she was 14, Hesson was singing to help support her family and would’ve been more than happy to leave school to pursue a music career.

But her father wanted her to finish high school and college first, so she majored in banking and finance at Holy Angel University in the Philippines and continued singing to support herself.

“I was playing every night, just so I had extra money,” she says.

After graduating in 1983, Hesson knew what was next.

“I said (to my father), ‘Here’s my diploma. Can I sing now?’”

She found work performing on a military base, where she met her now ex-husband, who was in the Air Force. The couple has four children: Allen, 23; Jessica, 17; J.C., 14; and Rebecca, 12.

Hesson and her family eventually moved to Richmond and then Lynchburg.

Her local music career kicked off almost 10 years ago, when she started singing during karaoke nights around town and, later, dinner shows, where she’d sing the tunes of Carole King, James Taylor and Carly Simon.

In 2001, Hesson started her own karaoke business, which has had her working in most of Lynchburg’s restaurant/bars, including Big Lick Tropical Grill, Ale House, Rubs, Buffalo Wild Wings and, now, Cattle Annie’s, where she hosts a karaoke/DJ night every Thursday (she’ll also be there this Saturday).

She also performs an acoustic set/karaoke combo at the Corner Café every Friday night and does private parties and weddings, in addition to a day job working at a law firm.

“It’s more than karaoke with Alma,” says Jody VanTassell, Hesson’s partner of five and a half years. “It’s a show.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 people or 300 people, they get the same show. It’s been five and a half years, and I can never get enough of it.”

Now that she’s won Lynchburg Star, Hesson, who recorded a self-titled album in 2003, is excited to get back into the studio for those 20 recording hours.

“I never thought I knew how to write,” she says. “I had a friend tell me the only way you can make it in this country is to write your own music. One day, I just sat down (and did it).

“It just comes to you. When you feel sad, when you feel mad, when you’re happy.”

Hesson never sees a time when she won’t be performing and often jokes about doing later-in-life gigs at old folks homes.

“I’m never gonna stop,” she says with another laugh. “I will be rocking the house.”