TEEN SINGING SENSATION USES MUSIC TO SPREAD ANTI-BULLYING MESSAGE

From AZFamily.com - By Tami Hoey

She's a 16-year-old singer, songwriter, actress… and anti-bullying activist! And this special teen is using her music to spread her message to schools throughout the country.

Watch Lizzie's interview and performance on AZFamily HERE.

Lizzie Sider joined us on Wednesday's Good Morning Arizona to talk to us about her vision and perform the theme song for her tour, called "Butterfly." The song is about Sider's empowering decision to overcome the teasing and bullying she experienced in elementary school.

"I hope that the music I write will touch people, inspire them, and take them back to a time or event when they had a similar experience," she says. "This has been a very special thing I've been able to do for everyone."

Sider specializes in contemporary country music. She travels around to hundreds of schools, performing in bullying prevention assemblies.

Her recent 250-school Bully Prevention Assembly Tour, took her across the U.S., where she visited three schools per day, four days per week, and performed her own one-person show, known as “Nobody Has the Power to Ruin Your Day.”

During these assemblies, Sider interacts with the students and discusses the issue of bullying. In just the past 17 months, Sider has visited with more than 120,000 kids.

Sider's professional music career is also booming. The teen has already opened for dozens of country stars in concert, and has been a featured performer at rodeos, parties and other events. In 2013, she was named by CMA (Country Music Association) Close-Up Magazine as one of the "new artists to watch." And in 2014, Sider was named by the Examiner as one of its "Top 5 Female Country Newcomers" of the year.

Sider balances life as a high school student and her recording and live performance schedule with numerous charitable endeavors. She is an advocate of empowerment for GWEN (Global Women's Empowerment Network), sharing her personal story of encouragement with their growing community. She has recently become a spokesperson for PACER Teens Against Bullying, as well as a Junior Board Member of The Alliance for Eating Disorders.

Feeling especially connected to the needs of young children, Sider has performed at the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, The Ronald McDonald House in Nashville, and the Children's Hospital in L.A. She has also performed for the patients and staff at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO., and has toured the St. Jude's hospital in Memphis.

Like many girls her age, Sider's very first concert was Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. “I just looked at her up there and saw how she was connecting with the crowd, and all the smiles on the kids' faces. She was doing what she was meant to do. That's the way I feel about my own music. I want to be out there, giving people something to enjoy and be an inspiration to them."

Here are the Phoenix-area schools at which Sider is performing this week:
Wednesday, April 29 1 p.m. - Laveen Elementary School
4141 W. McNeil Street
Laveen, AZ 85339
602-237-9110

Thursday, April 30- 1 p.m. - Desert Star School
2131 S 157th Avenue
Goodyear, AZ 85338
623-772-4600

Friday, May 1 - 1 p.m. - Lakeview Elementary
3040 West Yucca Street
Phoenix, AZ 85029
602-896-5800