Following a dream

Will Cheyenne Kimball attain stardom? Viewers will get a look at her journey.
By Kim Breen
Knight Ridder Newspapers
LITTLE ELM, Texas -- Cheyenne Kimball sits alone on the family couch, alternately typing text messages into her cell phone and smiling at the responses. Her mother, Shannon, vacuums.
The typical scene from this suburban household is caught on video by an MTV film crew whose members outnumber the Kimball family more than 2-to-1. Filming has swung into full force for MTV's latest reality show, which will feature 15-year-old Cheyenne as she follows her dream of making it as a professional singer and songwriter.
It's the latest in a litany of MTV shows that document everyday lives of performers and ordinary people, a genre paved by "The Real World," "The Osbournes" and "Laguna Beach."
"They just want to show that I'm normal, but I don't have a normal life," said Cheyenne, who was performing her own rock music with her guitar onstage in Deep Ellum clubs at age 8, won a nationally televised talent show at 12 and signed a record deal with Sony at 13.
She's lived largely out of the public eye for the past few years. With the guidance of her mother, who is also her co-manager, Cheyenne turned down several early offers for television and movie spots. They picked a record deal with Sony because it gave her time to mature as a person and performer.
Now it's time for the coming-out party. Her album release is expected this summer, a few weeks after the series starts.
Like most teenagers, Cheyenne is well-versed in reality shows and is thrilled about starring in one but a bit stressed about embarrassing herself in front of a national audience.
"You don't really want people watching you get in a fight with your mom," she said.
Hopes about show
While MTV bets that Cheyenne's show will grab the coveted demographic of girls and young women, she and her family are hoping that the show about her dreams helps make them come true.
Cheyenne Kimball, 15, and her family will move soon from Little Elm, Texas, to Los Angeles, where the music industry thrives. Cheyenne says she wants to play in an arena, to look out from the stage onto a sea of people. But her mother adds a caution.
"It's different these days," Kimball said she has been told. "We have to have a platform. Success doesn't just come from songs being played on the radio."
Kimball says their lives are boring, despite the "roller coaster ride" that began nearly three years ago when Cheyenne won the title of America's Most Talented Kid on the "American Idol"-esque show by the same name.
"There's not a lot of drama," Kimball said of her family. "I don't know what is going to be so exciting."
Any reality show devotee can easily see why MTV would find the family an attractive addition to its repertoire of reality shows, from the long blond locks atop their heads to the teeny black Chihuahuas yipping at their feet.
Cheyenne is sweet and gorgeous, accomplished yet innocent, and, as her mother says, ridiculously photogenic. Everyone is in top shape. Quietly humorous dad, Brett, is a personal trainer who met his wife, a former trainer, at the gym. He wears a ponytail, and tattoos snake his forearms.
He's not in the show's pilot much, Kimball says, because he swears too much.
The feisty mom, who once served as a magician's assistant, quit her job as an advertising executive and now works for her daughter. Cheyenne's sister, Brittany Von Behren, recently graduated from Frisco High School, where she was named one of the top female wrestlers in the nation. She is a dental hygienist who plans to soon work for Cheyenne as her assistant.
Three-year contract
The family was introduced to living on camera when Cheyenne's pilot was filmed six months ago, but now the filming will go on constantly for months. Cheyenne signed a three-year contract with MTV.
"Get used to us," senior producer Nate Hayden told Cheyenne and her mom last week. He intended to shoot "anything and everything."
Little of it will happen in Texas. Cheyenne and her family have left for performances and meetings in Las Vegas, New York and Breckenridge, Colo. Then the family plans to move to Los Angeles.
"Reality isn't reality," Cheyenne said she learned early on. Her show is partially scripted, with Cheyenne narrating the show from a script.
Last week the house was stripped of all Christmas decorations before filming could start, so that scenes would not be pegged to any particular time of year. Cheyenne slipped into her room to clean it up for the cameras.
Serving as the epicenter of her family's careers and plans puts a lot of weight on her shoulders, Cheyenne said while sitting on her bed next to a teddy bear. She responds to stress by sleeping and napping, but lately there have been a "lot of sleepless nights."
Back in her Deep Ellum days, she said, she didn't worry much about performing. Now she's keenly aware of pressure to prove herself. She also worries about what she'll say to the audience between songs.
Remembering her dream
Cheyenne attended Texas schools in Plano and Frisco when she was younger and is now home-schooled by her mother. She misses the socializing and said she can count her close friends on one hand. While she sometimes wishes for normalcy, she said, she quickly remembers this is her dream and ambition.
"I've always known this is what I'm going to do."
Kimball, who had prepared Cheyenne for losing the television contest that started it all, now has no concerns about the family's plans to mold their lives around Cheyenne's career.
"I know this is going to sound stage-momish," she said. "There is no way that she is going to fail."
She worries instead about her daughter's head getting too big and said that is the reason so many family members are involved in her career -- people who will keep her grounded. A trust fund has been established for Cheyenne. The family did not pursue an advance on album sales and has downsized homes and cars to cut expenses.
Kimball said she hopes financial success is never what motivates Cheyenne. She said giving up her own career was difficult, but her life as a mother could never be more fulfilling.
"Nothing is better than watching your child attain their dream," she said. "Who [as a child] didn't want to be a rock star?"
Cheyenne said her favorite TV show is "Laguna Beach," an MTV show that documents the lives of supremely rich and beautiful teenagers in California.
"Everything about the show is gorgeous," she said. "I guess it's the life every teenager wants to have: no worries."
And then she went from her bedroom for the living room, where a microphone and cameras were waiting, and she text-messaged for the cameras.