Ark Music Factory's latest sensation Lexi makes debut in Good Morning America

Latest teen singer Lexi St. George Courtesy: YouTube

Close on the heels of the runaway success of the hit song “Friday,” Ark Music Factory has partnered with ABC-TV’s Good Morning America to find America’s next viral music star Lexi St. George of Palmdale, California who made her debut on Tuesday.

Titled “Dancing to the Rhythm,” the new music video featured Lexi's number that was streamed across on Thursday, June 30. The video, posted on YouTube, has since garnered more than 72,000 views.

Despite a row over teen singer Rebecca Black’s hit music video FRIDAY that forced Ark to temporarily take it off YouTube, it embarked upon the next music star. Good Morning America, or GMA in short, is a morning talk show broadcast on the ABC television network.

Ark Music Factory partnered with Good Morning America this time to launch a massive hunt to find a hidden pop music talent. Through a weekend’s worth of word-of-mouth, online promotion, radio shout outs on Los Angeles’ 97.1 FM AMP Radio and hosting auditions at LA malls, the Ark Music Factory team and GMA producers could lay their hands on their next candidate: fourteen year-old Lexi.

Ark Music Factory founder Patrice Wilson co-wrote and produced the song, “Dancing to the Rhythm,” with Steve Sulikowski, which was rehearsed and recorded at LA’s Smashbox Studios with Suite 7 Productions, the producers of the “Friday” video in a record time.

Lexi was choreographed by JR Taylor--who’s worked with Rihanna, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Ashanti and others—and styled by Avo Yermagyan, who’s worked with Sophia Bush and others.

“We’ve been continually amazed by Lexi’s raw talent, drive and determination,” says Wilson. “It takes a rare kind of girl to hear the news that we’d chosen her at noon in her living room, and within a few hours, be 100 miles from home rehearsing a song at the historic Los Angeles studio The Village, where hundreds of hits have been recorded. She’s truly come out of nowhere to show a rare star quality, and had the grit and stamina to turn out a hit song and video in a week.” Wilson writes. ”We’ve been lucky to surround ourselves with strong talent to support Lexi, both inside Ark Music Factory and with all the great team that stepped up to prepare her—all in a week.”

Lexi, who starts high school in the fall, has long aspired to success but is the most part a pretty typical fourteen year-old. “My mom says I started singing when I was two,” she recalls. “I’m too young to remember that, but I have always been singing, and have always wanted to. I’ve always wanted to BE something and my family and friends have supported it. My best friend’s mom even encouraged me.” She looks up to artists like Taylor Swift & Selena Gomez. “Taylor because she’s so wholesome and I can relate to her story and her music,” she says. “Selena, I’ve been watching her show on Disney since I was little. I love her music and songs as well.”

The GMA joint venture marks the evolution of Ark Music Factory into a new kind of transmedia entertainment company, says executive Anita Camarata, who has come to Ark with a nearly 25-year career in music management and film production behind her. “Ark Music Factory works to provide new artists with the tools to progress in their careers, and we develop artists of our own.”

“We’ve been pleased with where we’ve come from and are so excited to be working with a new artist of Lexi’s talent,” Camarata concludes. “We’re confident she represents the next stage in the future of our company and are so grateful to Good Morning America for partnering with us to launch her career.”

In few weeks, Ark plans another nationwide online talent search and finalists will be chosen from online submissions, the company said in a statement.

Ark Music Factory earlier talent search threw light on thirteen year-old sensation Rebecca Black, who became an overnight pop sensation, gaining worldwide attention with the hit single Friday. The song, first launched by Ark Music Factory, was a stupendous hit, and has since spawned dozens—maybe hundreds-of fan covers, parodies as well as professional covers--as well as more than 167 million views on YouTube.

But it was taken off YouTube following a complaint from Black’s representatives over copy rights. The video producers, Ian David Hotchkiss and Christopher Ryan Lowe, filed a copyright application for the video on March 23 complaining against the video's release on YouTube.

“We’re disappointed, having been in good faith negotiations with Rebecca Black and her representatives for months regarding any open issues,” an Ark Music representative said. “There’s been an ongoing, open dialogue with our company. So we were blindsided to get a Take Down Notice—with no notice--alleging copyright infringement instead of a call or email from Rebecca’s representatives.

Regardless, we are going to continue to take the high road and work out the complaint as soon as possible so that the million-plus people who watch Friday for free each day can continue to enjoy the video.”