Heath is more than just a musician or handsome face on a CD sleeve. He represents a growing voice in modern rock and mainstream popular rock. Many critics in recent times have been quick to shoot down any music with a hint of integrity, morality, or spiritual overtones of any kind. Collective Soul, Lifehouse, and Creed are just a few examples of such bands that have been favorite targets of what Heath calls “the fearful left.” Some may brush it off as politics, but the accepted norm in modern music has now become more open to other voices other than the normal sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lyrics that have pervaded the airwaves for decades. People are hungry for more, for meaning, and often see themselves in lyrics that are honest about life, love, and the search for meaning.
Heath got his first taste of music as a young boy when he was appointed to be his school’s xylophonist at his elementary school in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he was born. At the age of nine his family moved to Georgia. It was here that he began playing the trumpet. But he soon began writing music, playing guitar, and singing in his church choir in Marietta, Georgia. In fact, he was the church’s only male soprano. When the director said, “ladies,” he knew that this also meant him. But he didn’t really fit in with this arrangement of singers and sheet music.
He often found himself locked in his headphones listening to Stryper, Bon Jovi, Def-Leppard and the like. At seventeen he was able to save up enough money to buy a guitar. “It was because of Jon Bon Jovi that I started singing and it was because of Reb Beach [Winger] that I got serious with the guitar, he said. “My family life was pretty bad usually, so it was my escape. But it quickly turned into a passion. I couldn’t get enough of it. I’d stay up late at night in my room listening to Europe and Whitesnake. And all of this was before CD’s. It was the flat plastic—vinyl!”
Heath didn’t know that it would be years before he would be able to put together a real band. In 1996, he and his brother moved in together in Murfreesboro, TN. The following year he was stunned to find out that two of his childhood friends from Oklahoma now lived in the same town and were also musicians. Steve and Jeff were brothers and were also looking to put together a band, so the three formed Straight 180 and began to practice popular cover songs together.
It wasn’t until Heath began to bring original work to the table that the other two began to realize that he had long-term dreams of being a mega-rock star. Things fizzled and Heath took time away from music to gather himself and seek God. The band reunited in 1999, recorded a four-song demo (“Orbit,” “Wake-up,” “Black,” and “What Have We Become?”) but soon fell apart again when Heath set up a meeting with a manager. He was serious.
Heath was desperately trying to hold together a dream. He called up long-time friend, John Griffin, about getting some studio time in to record a new demo, this time by himself. Because of his low income, he had to record his material in segments over the period of several months and find additional work through modeling and acting. By the beginning of 2002 the new demo (“Born to Rock,” “Lift Me Up,” “Orbit,” and “Wake-up”) was finished, mass-produced on CD, and was already circulating among friends and family. He then used the demo as bait in finding competent, serious musicians.
The new line-up was ready—Manny, Mike, John, and Heath. Relentless rehearsals commenced almost immediately. Six months later they had learned 50 cover songs and had begun work on originals. The band then began playing as many as three gigs a week in hopes of gaining the experience and perfection needed to rise to the top. Unfortunately, in March of 2003, the band that Heath had personally put together, unhappy with their progress and sound, decided to replace their vocalist. “I’ll never forget the long drive home from work that Monday night when I found out.” It had all come crashing down again.
Heath now finds himself in a place of having to trust God with his destiny. “I’ve realized that some very talented people make it and some don’t. I’ve also realized that I have no control over anything. In the blink of an eye I could be on top of the world doing a lot of great things or at the bottom, unfulfilled, working a 9 to 5. I have to look down, draw a circle around where I’m standing, and say that everything within that circle will be brought to perfection. Other than that, I can only keep my eyes open for opportunity and keep pushing on various doors until one opens. It only takes one person in the right position to see my potential.”