“I’ll be out of luck if I choose defeat, so I'll keep fighting for me," sings Tabi Haly in her song “Change Coming my Way” on her new album, “Stance.” She is a singer-songwriter, motivator, and advocate for disability rights. The Tribeca Citizen wrote “I am not sure I have met anyone quite as driven as Tabi Haly.” Dealing with muscular dystrophy since she was a child, the 38-year-old singer-songwriter embodies Winston Churchill’s famous quote, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
From advocacy and asking for help to creating music, Tabi’s telling stories of her triumphs and challenges. Her songs, especially, include her reflections of living with M.D. on “Stance,” the follow up to her 2019 release “I Wrote Life.” “Stance” will be on all streaming media and digital stores on October 15. That’s the 10-year anniversary of her first show ever, which was in downtown New York City. Tabi will be performing on Tuesday, October 18, at 6:30 PM, at Bar 135 in Tribeca, downtown NYC!
“Each and every song is about standing up for myself and yourself in different ways,” she says. The title cut is about standing up for yourself in a toxic relationship, as is “Ain’t Got Nothin.” The jazzy “Elements,” was inspired by her priority of standing up for her values during the covid pandemic.
“Threshold” and “My Story” share the people on her side. “Move A Muscle,” which is about the power of collaboration, “I invite you to take part and do what you can Move a muscle with me, or watch ‘til you understand that I can do anything.” Tabi’s eclectic range of empowering songs runs from the blissful jazz “It’s Right” and the R&B chords on “Live It Up.”
“It is because you take the feeling of being an outcast and wanting to help others.” Tabi’s song, “I’m a Child” will resonate in different ways to people that have contended with able-ism and exclusion. New Jersey rock band Corevalay’s leadsinger Phil Barbetta is a touring musician in a powerchair. He and Tabi duet on her love song, “Except to You” with the lyric, “It always hurts to be different except to you.”
Born in Houston, TX to a Filipino-American parents, Tabi’s father introduced her to music at age 3. She started singing to keep her lungs healthy, and by high school was writing songs. After moving to the New York City/Putnam County area at age 17, Tabi studied music and mathematics at Pace University, and graduated summa cum laude. She found work as a software engineer at JP Morgan.
She’s always been in a wheelchair and now is barely able to move her hands. To write, Tabi uses a mouse, track pad and music software to compose, and sing into a microphone. After her demo is ready, she collaborates with one of her musicians (Fabian Caballero, Miles Machon, Michael Bunin, and Austin Deyo), until the songs are produced with Russell Castiglione.
Tabi belts and then croons her songs.
Her style spans many genres: R&B, pop, rock, folk, jazz, blues,
country, and dance. In addition to introspective and sometimes “cut-to-the
heart” emotional lyrics, and wide vocal ranges. All of these help Tabi
write about her experiences on all kinds of love, and her life, as well as what
it’s been like to be different.
