Sam Santiago Wow’s West Michigan!

Rivenmaster and boys

This past August Sam Santiago and his family from Irvine, California spent a week of their vacation to visit my home city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a wonderful time getting to know Sam better, and being able to spend quality time with his family and Sebastian, a good friend of Sam’s older brother Penuel!

Staying only a few minutes from my home, it made it easy to travel back and forth from the Hotel to the house to meet every day for some special time together. We spent the entire week traveling around the city, seeing the sights, visiting parks, and of course doing lots of singing both in the car and at special engagements.

craigs cruisersSam is such an energetic fellow and is full of life and fun. Not unlike any other Nine year old, Sam loves to play video games and especially enjoyed our time at the Go Cart -Video Arcade called Craig’s Cruisers . The boys and I played laser tag, rode go carts, and enjoyed a game of mini golf before the day was over. His family also enjoyed visiting a small nearby tourist town on the bay featuring very unusual art and specialty items sold in small shops and stores.

Sam picked up a new hat at one of the shops which came in handy a little later that week for one of his performances.

Sam is always practicing his vocal skills. Even when he is just traveling in the car Sam is continually singing. There is no doubt that this boy loves to sing. On one occasion while traveling to one of the sightseeing points, Sam and I broke into our own cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” with Sam leading the way and me following with the harmony while trying to remember the words. Lol 🙂 What fun that was!

Sam did three performances while he was visiting. His first performance was for my local church assembly where he sang his medley of “As the Deer & I love you Lord”. He brought many to tears with his rendition of this song then raised the roof singing “How Great Is Our God” by Chris Tomlin. Everyone was standing on their feet as Sam was leading the entire congregation in this second worship song!

What the congregation did not know is that Sam had only learned this song the day before! He not only hit every note but remembered every word perfectly. Amazing Sam!

 

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Singing Sam Santiago Sensational Seven Year Old!

Sam Santiago is not only unbelievably talented but has one of the most amazing vocal abilities that I have ever seen in a 7 year old boy!

Sam Santiago

Only a few days ago while visiting Facebook, I took notice of a post by Sam Verlinden of a young man that immediately captured my attention.

He is, seven year old Sam Santiago.  What really charmed me was his vocal quality along with his charismatic personality which really shined through while singing his song.  It took me only moments to publish his video to the video of the day list and contact his parents for an article.  I am delighted to introduce to you this young performer, who is not only well ahead of the game with his vocal talent but already a star performer who is becoming more and more in demand in both California and the Philippines.

Sam started singing when he was about four years old. His family moved to Corona from Mission Viejo when he first began to show an interest in music. Stuck in traffic with not much to entertain him but Mom, his brother, and the radio, led Sam to find his singing talent. Kelly Clarkson and her hit singles “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “Because of You” were his favorite songs. As he continued in his new found talent, Sam realized that Kelly was truly his idol at that time.

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