Darin Southam didn't start out to be a singer. In fact, he thought maybe law — or even business — might be his calling. But that's not the way things turned out.

It was a performance of "Bring Him Home" from the musical "Les Miserables" that changed things.

Southam was singing with a choir, and the director gave him the opportunity to sing a solo. "I never wanted to be the person that was up there singing," said Southam. "But I guess the love of that song kind of carried me through. Although it wasn't perfect, the effect that it had on people was surprising to me."

The comments people made, Southam said, caused him to consider doing more vocal solos and pursue more music education. Over time, one thing led to another, and soon he found himself singing in front of a "meaningful audience." One of the listeners that night heard Southam and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"This person offered to help me record a professional album," Southam recalled. "This person didn't just give me money. He said, 'You write me up a business plan. You write me up what it costs, and then we'll see.' "

At the time, Southam said, he had recently applied to law school and was about to take the GMAT. But, he said, "this opportunity was literally just laid in front of me. I think that everybody's life has a meaning, and for some reason this direction was placed in front of me. So I had to make a decision as to which career, and I chose the bolder of the two, which was the music."

The challenge, he said, motivated him to get serious about music as a profession. "I took this opportunity and did indeed write up a business plan. I researched like crazy, online searches, made phone calls." After just a few phone calls he found a producer for his CD — Jay Richards.

It took a lot of time and effort, he said, to be able to do the album, and a lot of work to record the album itself. But the result, the self-titled "Darin Southam," which was released in December, has made everything worth it.

It's a product that Southam, a self-proclaimed perfectionist, is happy with. But what's more, it's something that he feels other people will be happy with, too.

"I feel like I'm giving something that's good to people," he said, "something they can listen to and not have to say, 'Oh honey, cover your ears.'

"I want it to be music that will caress the ears of those who listen to it and let people forget about the mundane things of the world and escape to a better place," he said.

The current challenge, Southam said, is breaking into the market. "It's kind of a catch-22," he said. "In order to continue, you've got to sell, and to sell, you've got to be known. But if you want to be known, you have to sell." Southam got a day job in sales to pay the bills, but he's hoping to start getting airtime on stations such as FM-100 and KOSY-106.5.

So far, Southam said, he has sold about 500 CDs — almost entirely by word of mouth, through his Web site www.darinsoutham.com and Cdbaby.com. But his aim is a lot bigger. "I want it to be different than what comes out of this state in that I want it to reach everyone," he said. "My only purpose is to get this into as many homes and possible, because I want this to reach hundreds of thousands — in fact, hopefully millions — of people."

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E-mail: rcline@desnews.com