By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

This fall, Cazenovia native Faith Gara released her first single, a pop Christmas song titled “Ms. Claus.”

Produced by multi-platinum record producer Tony DoFat, the single offers “a fresh perspective” on breakups during the holiday season, according to Gara.

Gara, 20, co-wrote the melody and lyrics of “Ms. Claus” with her friend and musical collaborator Skylar Blaze Star of La Jolla, San Diego.

Collectively, the two singers and songwriters go by the name “Smokelines.”

Gara attended Cazenovia Central Schools from kindergarten through her sophomore year of high school, after which she and her family moved to New York City.

She attended Gramercy Arts High School for a year and a half before transferring back to Cazenovia to complete her final semester and graduate with her friends in June 2017.

According to Gara, music has always been a big part of her life.

“I have been singing since I could talk,” she said. “I grew up singing in choirs, doing local community theater and singing in the Syracuse Opera . . . I started voice lessons at age 8 . . . [and] I taught myself guitar and piano and began songwriting at age 11.”

While living in Cazenovia, Gara sang in the Syracuse Children’s Chorus for three years, performed in four Syracuse Opera shows and sang in the choirs at school.

The artist credits her father as the biggest supporter of her music.

“I would sing for him every night and play guitar for him while he cooked,” she said. “ . . . He would play me AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac and Grace Potter. He influenced a lot of my taste in music. He took me to an X-Factor audition in Long Island when I was in eighth grade. He took off three days of work, let me skip school and drove me there and back twice. I made it through all of the rounds before [the show went on] TV.”

When Gara was 14, her father passed away unexpectedly.

“He encouraged me so much from such a young age,” she said. “I’ve never felt like I was supposed to do anything but music . . . I had a really hard time getting back into music [after his passing], but I channeled my heartache into making music and I wrote some of my best songs through the hard times. I like to think he would be proud of me. I’m just so grateful that I had him in my life because I would not be the person I am today or have the courage that I do.”

Gara met Star at Long Island University Brooklyn, where they are both majoring in music technology, entrepreneurship and production with a concentration in songwriting.

“We became good friends really quickly and soon spent our nights staying up writing songs,” Gara said. “We started . . . Smokelines, [and now] we have a YouTube channel where we talk about songwriting and the music industry as we move up. It’s awesome having someone else to lean on through this journey. We work really well together.”

According to Gara, the decision to release a Christmas song stemmed from the artists’ mutual love of the holiday.

“We are both the type to have a million decorations, blast Christmas music and fully [immerse] ourselves in the spirit,” she said. “We thought it was only right to write a tune of our own that we could play each year and to bring our own unique perspective.”

Gara and Star hope to expand their Smokelines fan base by releasing more music in the near future.

In addition to continuing to create their own material, the songwriters also aspire to write for other artists in the industry.

Ms. Claus is currently available on all major streaming platforms.

To learn more about Smokelines, visit smokelines.com or follow the artists on Instagram @smokelinesgroup.