If you've spent any amount of time in Nashville, you'll realize that singers and songwriters are a dime a dozen. Whole lives are spent trying to eke out a living in the music business without getting anywhere.

It's not necessarily that they're untalented, but there are a number of factors that determine success. Some may credit it to just plain luck.

After more than 10 years of networking and determination, it looks like Jaimee Paul may finally get the opportunity she has dreamed of, a full time career as a performer, singing her music.

It's been a long road of hard work, with lots of crazy stories.

Paul grew up in Herrin and Marion and after graduating from high school in 1995, moved to Nashville to go to school at Belmont University, a private college with a highly regarded music department. If she was going to make it as a singer, she would need to have more than just a great voice.

"I went to Belmont to be a music business major," she said, "so that I could actually graduate and say 'OK, I can do whatever you want me to do.'"

During her time there, she was an intern for Sony Music, where she was part of the promotional team that pushed the Dixie Chicks' first album, "Wide Open Spaces" to huge success.

When she graduated from Belmont, she found work at BMI and Reunion Records, the home of Michael W. Smith.

Despite success behind the scenes in the business, Paul still tried to find ways to use her talent as a vocalist.

"I really like being creative, I love advertising and all that stuff," she said.

"I thought I was going to graduate from college, though, and be a session singer. Nope. It's something that takes forever."

All the effort wasn't for nothing. The longer she worked, the more connections she made.

Gradually, she was able to find work as a session artist, recording background vocals for albums and commercial jingles.

Though she had recorded demos in different styles, her writing gravitated to one genre in particular.

"Jazz has always been my love," she said.

"I was born in the wrong era."

It is a style that is hard to pursue in a town like Nashville, but as would prove to be the case in many different situations, knowing the right person and being in the right place at the right time opened the door.

In this instance, a friend backed out of a show at a jazz club at the last minute, which gave her the opportunity to perform for the first time in that type of setting. It also led to more bookings and a standing Saturday night jazz gig at Ellendale's Restaurant.

She has since recorded and released her first CD, "Angel Like You," a collection of jazz standards with a few of her original compositions.

In a chance encounter at a Nashville film festival, Paul met Dan Butler, VP of Warner Bros. Entertainment Law. He took her CD back to California and liked it. He arranged for a meeting with Gary LeMel, president of Warner Bros. World Music.

In July of 2006, Arlo Chan, a VP at Warner/Chappell, signed her to a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Publishing.

LeMel and Chan have been doing their best to use their connections to find her a home with a record label.

In fact these connections led to a meeting with famed record producer David Foster.

If you're not familiar with the name, you're undoubtedly familiar with his music. "I Swear" by All-4-One, "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, and "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion are among the many hits Foster is responsible for.

You may also recognize him from his short-lived reality show "The Princes of Malibu."

Foster has been so impressed with Paul that he is looking to use her in one of the many charity events he sponsors and possibly as an artist on his record label, which is associated with Reprise Records.

Through her connections with LeMel and Chan, there is also interest from Concord Records and Clive Davis' J Records.

On top of all this, she recently got engaged to her trumpet player, Leif Shires, who has also been playing with the Memphis Horns.

After years of preparation, the pieces are finally beginning to come together.

"You know, the favorite phrase that all the LA people like to use is 'the stars are aligning,' and I'm like, 'that's great, God, keep aligning them,'" she said.

If things weren't going so well for her, it's easy to imagine that Paul would be just as buoyant and joyful. Even without the offers and the prospect of big time success, she has been able to keep doing what she loves, singing.

In conversation, she is warm and personable, clearly enjoying what could prove to be the most pivotal time in her life. She credits her upbringing in Southern Illinois and her Christian faith as major sources of stability and perseverance.

"I've been a Christian since I was 7; I still sing in my church choir," she said.

"I really, really feel (God's) hand right on everything. He's got my back."

brent.stewart@thesouthern.com

(618) 351-5074

For more information

on Jaimee Paul:

Go to http://www.jaimeepaul.com

You can find her CDs online or at Latta Java in Marion