Nicole Yunker has always fed off the input from family, friends and acquaintances to keep her focused and motivated in her musical endeavours.

And now the local songstress is offering up her first original song inspired by the support she received while she was processing the death of her father, Mel Armstrong last spring, following a battle with brain cancer.

“It was summer time, he had passed away in April. And people were really kind and saying ‘Nicole we’re looking forward to hearing more music. I was overwhelmed with grief and so the song just came to me,” Yunker said. “It’s the first song I’ve ever written and it became a really positive process for me to think about celebrating my dad, and also the gratitude for our relationship. It really turned the grief around for me to think about all the positive things instead of the loss.”

The single “A Father’s Love” drops, Mar. 31, and honours the special relationship Yunker had with father, who was her greatest advocate and cheerleader.

“My dad was really like my manager. Even though his health was deteriorating, I had to send him all my rehearsal recordings, my notes from my lessons and I knew if my dad was alive he would be saying ‘just get singing, move on’,” she said, stressing again how the support of the community has had such a positive impact on her music.

Check out the full story in this week's Total Market Coverage Dauphin Herald!