The Blythe Gamble Story
Blythe Gamble first started playing music as a very young girl with her father and family. She discovered at an early age that she loved music and the stage.
Blythe was born with a rare heart defect and her parents were told she would’nt live to be 13, there was nothing they could do. At age 10 she became deathly ill with heart disease..which led her to meet a German surgeon who had tried a risky operation to fix her defect on only 6 other people before her. Her parents let her decide and she risked it. The surgery was a miracle success story, and to this day she takes no meds and has had no heart trouble.
Her lust for life is contagious, and those who know her life story think it’s because she survived beyond the tragedy and found a catalyst in music for her infectious appreciation for life in general and her joyous energy.
“I’m seeing my friends die, fellow musicians, and I just don’t ever know how long we all have here…it’s indefinite.”
Leaving Wisconsin in 1994 to pursue her passions, she has lent her vocal talents to many well known bands and has performed in venues all across the United States, including gracing the stage with Zena the Mojo Mama in Memphis and working with Boston member Curly Smith and members of Dokken and George Lynch and The Lynch Mob on albums in Arizona. She has also had a solo act since age 17, which started by busking on the streets of San Diego, CA and Phoenix,AZ…and joining bands who were opening for Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, and Gravity Kills.
Blythe fell in love at a young age, was married for 8 years, and had two children. Soulja, the firstborn, is the absolute light of her life and gives her pride and joy each and every day. Her youngest daughter(just as beautiful and precious), however, was born with the rare heart defect and it proved to be much worse that her mother’s and irrepairable. Rosa, the second born, was the 5th infant in the world to receive a heart and double lung transplant…which brought Blythe’s music to a screeching halt and catapulted her back home to Milwaukee, home of the best Children’s Hospital in the country for these extremely difficult surgeries. It was a long haul…articles were published in the State Journal and other newspapers about Blythe’s perserverence and surviving this alone. Rosa lived a year after transplant and Soulja and Blythe said goodbye after a tragic battle. They also suffered the loss of their father/husband as he up and left…caved in from the stress.
Blythe went back to work as a chef, and formed a rock band Solsafire which had a great 6 year run in Milwaukee. This band helped her write some great songs about what she had been through. After the band broke up in 2007…Blythe grabbed Soulja and left Milwaukee to come even closer to her hometown Portage, WI…and settled here in Madison, WI.
“Although I have experienced great tragedies in this life, each day I am grateful for my life, my loves, and living my musical dreams that ignite my inner passion.”
Today, she is a single mother of her beautiful daughter Soulja, who has already earned herself a full-ride scholarship to UW Madison. They have somehow found the way to survive and prosper through all the grief and loss, and Blythe gives credit to the music for keeping her sane and focused through it all.
“I’m not telling you guys this about my life to prey upon your sympathy and get you to give me money….I am asking if you like my music, if you’re one of the ones that wants my album, or if you want to just help a sister finally get there…let me trade you something for pitching in.”
In coming back to Madison, she has reconnected with her roots and gone back to the blues, the music she started singing with her Dad as a young girl. She has been quite successful so far in this genre and an album could only boost that success.
“I want nothing more in life right now than to record” my original music!”
”Let’s make a permanent record of this passionate music for ALL of us to enjoy long after I’m gone.”
That passion she has shows up loud and clear in each performance. This woman does not know how to hold back and she absolutely never should! Her voice hits you like a tidal wave. One you delight to drown in.
Blythe has also been a professional chef for over 21 years. She currently works as a private chef in Madison and several surrounding cities. You can sometimes find her serving tables and cooking at Cottage Cafe on Madison’s East side.
Blythe Gamble 