Biography

Many families carry on different kinds of legacies. For some, they carry on a legacy of military honor, and for others, they carry on a legacy of sound business decisions or healthy relationship building. No matter what kind, a family will carry on some kind of legacy - whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual.

For a group like Family Legacy , they carry a little bit of it all in their blood. Family Legacy is made up of Eric Vertrees, his wife Cheryl, and his sister Sheila Webb.

The musical legacy of the family has been a strong one. Eric and Sheila's grandfather was a Baptist minister with 10 children. An all singing family, their grandfather would have a traveling choir with him no matter where the ministry took him.

Eric and Sheila's father eventually sang with several local groups while they were growing up.

"Some of our earliest memories consist of going to various singing conventions and singing in church," recalled Sheila. "We have a lot of fond memories of growing up in and around all kinds of music."

In addition to their father, Eric and Sheila's mother was an accomplished musician. She and her twin sister traveled from place to place playing the piano for church revivals.

Eric continued the musical legacy during his teenage years. He was a part of several groups, including The Veterans , where he sang lead for 17 years. In addition to singing, Eric also plays the piano and bass guitar.

Sheila's love for music began at the age of eight while taking piano lessons. She studied the piano for 12 years, winning many awards in the process - including the first in the state of Kentucky to win the Paderewski medal. Sheila even found a love for singing in her teenage years, participating in local choirs for many years.

Eric's wife, Cheryl, also has a musical legacy - helping to tie her life into an already rich background of music. Cheryl's mother was a church soloist for many years, and Cheryl followed in her mother's footsteps by being a church soloist and ensemble member.

When The Veterans retired, Family Legacy was formed with that deep love of music in the family's heart.

"We started out just singing in our home church, but then it just began to grow," said Eric. "Our first date away from our home church was in April of 2003. We hope that God will continue to bless this legacy for an even longer time."

"We see this as a ministry," said Cheryl. "We hope to help reach the lost and uplift the downtrodden Christian in an entertaining way. We love Southern Gospel music and want to see it presented as well as possible."

"Being a new group, we may not have as many proud moments as other groups," mentioned Eric. "We had poured our hearts and souls into our first recording project. We, along with our producer and our engineer, sat down and listened to the playback. The Holy Spirit moved everyone in the room, and we knew we had experienced something a little special."

Family Legacy hopes to instill their rich history in their children and any other that is willing to listen.

"We see ourselves going just as far as God will take us," said Sheila. "If the Lord is willing, we would like to take the ministry to the highest plateau we can reach."