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Singing Army Wife Meets Leno Between Recording Sessions
American Forces Press Service ^
| Tim Hipps
Posted on 02/03/2010 3:30:39 PM PST by SandRat
PASADENA, Calif., Feb. 3, 2010 Army Capt. Matt Pratt and his songstress wife, Lisa, lived the dream in southern California Feb. 1, thanks to an Army morale and recreation program that supports soldiers and their families.
 Joey Beebe of Army Entertainment Division supports 2009 Operation Rising Star winner Lisa Pratt while her husband, Capt. Matt Pratt, watches from outside the recording booth at DMI Musics Firehouse Studios in Pasadena, Calif., Feb. 1, 2010. Army photo by Tim Hipps (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. |
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Lisa Pratt earned an all-expenses-paid trip to record a three-song demonstration CD at DMI Musics Firehouse Recording Studios here after winning the 2009 Operation Rising Star singing contest. Rising Star is one of hundreds of programs the Alexandria, Va.,-based Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command provides for soldiers and their families.
After her first session in the recording studio, Pratt sang the praises of the Army Family Covenant, which supports soldiers and their families with resourced programs that deliver a quality of life commensurate with their service and sacrifice to the nation.
The Army Family Covenant; this is what it is, Lisa said, before departing the recording studio to attend The Jay Leno Show in Burbank, where she got to meet one of the worlds most- famous comedians.
I never knew that Operation Rising Star was going to open all these doors for me, she said.
For Lisa, the journey to serve as an ambassador for FMWRCs Army Entertainment Division had just begun. For Matt Pratt, who redeployed from Mosul, Iraq, last autumn and accompanied his wife from Fort Carson, Colo., to Hollywood, the Operation Rising Star winners journey reaffirmed his belief in the Armys promise to support soldiers and families.
Im trying to take it all in, but its an emotional time for me because I get to see Lisa do what she absolutely loves doing, said Pratt, a 2006 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. For the past year while I was in Iraq, she was supporting me and what I was doing. Now the Army has provided me the opportunity to sit here and support her with what she does.
Pratt never had the opportunity to sit back and watch his wife of nearly four years perform until she took the stage to compete in Operation Rising Star, a program best described as American Idol for the military.
In church, I play the guitar and she sings, he said. But to see her under the lights and me be on the receiving end as part of the audience, Id never had the opportunity to do that.
Pratt knew that his wife had won a recording session, but he had no idea what level of professionalism awaited them in Pasadena.
Thats part of the magic. Its overwhelming to see the level that shes at and to see her basking in it. It still seems very surreal, he said.
I asked her, Is this really happening? Pratt recalled. And she said, I dont think it is. So, I think both of us are sort of caught in some sort of hyper-reality right now.
Capt. Pratt, too, is praising the Army Family Covenant program.
So, here we are in sunny Los Angeles right now, he said, and the Army Family Covenant is the reason were here, and I couldnt be more grateful.
The trip to California with his wife, Pratt said, ranks among his best-ever family experiences.
The only thing I would compare this to, as far as the level of emotion I feel, was walking into the gym and seeing Lisa for that first time after I came back from Iraq, he said. This is up there. Its on par with that sort of feeling of surreal. This is one of the most exciting times since Lisa and I have been together.
Pratt then sped away to drive his wife to meet Leno.
(Tim Hipps works with Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command public affairs.)
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Operation Rising Star winner Lisa Pratt, wife of Army Capt. Matt Pratt who is stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., records a song at DMI Musics Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, Calif., Feb. 1, 2010. Army photo by Tim Hipps Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution
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Operation Rising Star winner Lisa Pratt and husband Capt. Matt Pratt leave DMI Musics Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, Calif., to drive to Burbank to meet comedian Jay Leno and attend the Feb. 1, 2010 taping of The Jay Leno Show. Army photo by Tim Hipps Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; US: California
KEYWORDS: leno; risingstar; singing; wife
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posted on
02/03/2010 3:30:41 PM PST
by
SandRat
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