Leaving Pop Success Behind - The Jeannie Ortega Story

When Jeannie Ortega was only 16, she signed a nearly half million dollar record deal with Hollywood Records and was well on her way to fame. In the five years that she was with the label, she had a top 25 single ("Crowded") on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, with her debut album, No Place Like Brooklyn hitting Billboard’s Heatseekers chart at #1. She also spent a summer opening for Rihanna on her nationwide tour.

Shifting into acting, she appeared on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live as well as the teen romantic drama Step Up. Her first major acting role (alongside Mack Wilds) was in the indie film Indelible.

During it all, she had a guiding hand from another young women. The two weren't friends, in fact they had never even met, but Stacie Orrico's music led Jeannie to pursue a relationship with God.

"Her album made me think about God and the fact that I could have a relationship with Him. Some of her songs challenged me to want to become a better person. Although I signed a nearly half million dollar deal and was living out my dreams, I believed, like Orrico's song, that there had to more to life," Jeannie wrote on Breathecast.com, where she is a contributor.

Now, at 28, Jeannie has left the pop music scene behind and is working towards her first Christian pop album. She thanks God for Stacie's music as well as her fearlessness when it came to mentioning God in her music.