On the evening of Oct. 1, Josie Dunne ‘15 grinned as she sat at her kitchen table, surrounded by her parents, random friends and household pets, and signed approximately 75 papers, formalizing her record deal with Warner Music Nashville.

With this deal, Dunne is required to write two full songs per month, and she has three years to create her first album. Additionally, she must create another album every one and a half years following this first album for a maximum of nine years.

“Record companies are such huge helpers,” Dunne said. “They are like a bank and they have a ton of connections. Their main job is to nurture your talent. It is so huge for this to happen to me of all people, and I think it will help my music be solid and respected.”

Josie’s father Marty Dunne agrees, citing the record executives for their helpfulness and desire to start up new artists in the business,

“The process was so wonderful and the executives are so generous and kind,” Marty said. “They feel that people will respond to her and their promotion people will try to create a very wholesome, easy-going, super-honest image for Josie.”

Early on, however, Josie would not have dreamed of this fateful day. According to Marty, she was an “almost inaudible” young girl when she received an unofficial voice lesson from a cousin. Freshman year Josie performed in the a “Dunne Family talent show” where she stunned her uncle, singer/songwriter/businessman and LT-hall-of-famer, Jimmy Dunne. He is a big name in the music industry and has written songs for the likes of the late Whitney Houston, as well as received Grammy, Emmy and CMA nominations.

“I heard the seed of something very, very special and important [that day],” Jimmy said.

Soon after, Josie flew to Los Angeles, Calif, and recorded a trio of songs that were then produced by Jimmy and Stephan Oberhoff, an award-winning composer, vocalist and producer.

“She got amazing feedback from the music industry,” Jimmy said. “It has to do with so much more than her voice. It has to do with her soul, because that’s where she’s singing from and dreaming from. There is a richness, complexity and confidence in her lyrical and melodic choices that I have never seen in a 17-year-old before.”

As her young musical career progressed, Josie expanded from her first gig at her aunt’s pet parade party to more community events, networking to make herself known in the area and open up even more opportunities.

“I have actively sought out opportunities and people who might love what I do,” Josie said. “I have become more business oriented with the whole thing, because it has become more than just hopes and dreams at this point. I want to make a huge impact on the people I perform for.”

Close friend Shannon O’Neil ‘15 agrees, citing Josie’s persistence as the reason for her immense growth over the past years. O’Neil was present at Dunne’s signing party in Nashville, and has gone to countless shows.

“Josie sings so much around the community so everyone knows her,” O’Neil said. “She works hard for what she does, and everything that has happened in her music career has been positive because of this.”

Dunne’s biggest performance thus far, however, has been far bigger than pet parade parties and national anthem singings. Last year she opened for Ingrid Michaelson, Michael Fronte and Allen Stone in Austin, Texas, at a Whole Foods event.

“That night was the most excited I’ve ever been,” Josie said. “I was shaking backstage, honestly, and I don’t truly ever get nervous. It was huge.”

The list continues for Josie’s musical credentials, including singing at the Santa Anita Racetrack in California, winning the Pillar’s Talent Showcase and singing at the opening of the Kelli park one year after her death. She believes this is because of Jimmy’s presence in her career thus far.

“He has been invaluable in my career,” Josie said. “None of this would have happened, I would have never signed with Warner if it hadn’t been for his mentoring and advice.”

Jimmy, however, credits LaGrange and LT to his and Josie’s success.

“La Grange has great, rich soil, and I can’t imagine there is a better place in the country to experience high school than LTHS,” Jimmy said. “What an astounding launching pad for kids into college and the rest of their lives.”

Additionally, Jimmy says Josie has a fantastic musical taste full of talented artists who have strongly influenced her unique sound. Her bedroom is wallpapered with vinyl record covers of artists from the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties—artists from decades before she was born.

“I still can’t figure out who told her to like these people,” Jimmy said. “Who told her who Sam Cook and Sarah Vaughn and Stevie Wonder were? They have been her Justin Biebers growing up. They are who she has been listening to and feeling since grade school days.”

With these artists pushing her sound forward, Josie developed a style of her own, by learning from what audiences have responded well to in the past and melding together music she is attracted to.

“I’ve heard that a true musician appreciates every genre of music, and this has stuck with me,” Josie said. “There are good aspects to every genre of music, and what I attempt to do is infuse what I love about each genre into my own music. I mix country lyrics with R&B melodies and the catchiness of a pop song, and smash them all together to the songs I write.”

Josie’s mother Marcy Dunne credits her success to Josie’s realness in her songs and attitude.

“She is 100 percent authentic,” Marcy said. “She is so comfortable being herself, and people are drawn to that quality in her music every time she sings a note.”

Thus, Josie has made a name for herself locally as well as regionally, citing music as her identity at LT and elsewhere.

“People know me as the music girl now,” Josie said. “It is something that I can write my college essay about, it is a huge part of who I am and how people know me, and I love that.”

But for now, Josie plans on going to college in Nashville and write and sing for the majority of her time while she is down there. O’Neil is impressed by the exponential success of her friend.

“It is still so surreal to know that Josie is actually signed,” O’Neil said. “I have been listening to her sing at local events for years and now there’s talk about her doing tours and making albums and its still hard to picture things like that actually happening.”

Josie agrees, and is humbled by the upward slant her career has travelled, and plans on creating three albums by the end of college.

“Music and songwriting will be all I do,” Josie said. “Fingers crossed that these albums are successful, and that I am truly happy and staying sane, that is the dream.”