The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The song that landed a UC Berkeley philosophy student a place as one of three finalists remaining in the Pantene Pro-Voice singing contest may be called "Miss Invisible," but don't be fooled by titles. Marie Digby, once an introverted young woman, isn't invisible anymore.

The UC Berkeley junior used to hide under the bleachers on the football field of her junior high and high school during lunch time-but if she wins the contest she'll be sharing the stage with top female acts Ashanti and Fefe Dobson in a New York concert and working with a professional producer on an album.

Not to mention, her face will be all over MTV, MTV2, VH1 and BET, which will air a commercial promoting the contest in the coming weeks.

"It's like a dream come true, that's the biggest thing that's happened to me in music," Digby says of the commercial shoot.

The contest has put Digby on the brink of fame-ironically because of a song that recalls a time when she felt the most alone.

"Miss Invisible," which Digby wrote herself, recalls the hard years spent at her private Brentwood, Calif. junior high and high school, where she had difficulty finding even one friend.

"I drove a beat-up Volvo station wagon, I had zits, I wore Spandex, I thought it was the 80s," Digby says of her high school self.

Digby was out of sync with the other kids at her school and felt isolated, she says.

"I didn't have anyone to sit with and eat my lunch with-I didn't want to eat by myself and have people stare at me like a loser, so I ended up eating on the football field under the bleachers so no one could see me," she says.

Even though it was written about these personal events, "Miss Invisible" is a song everyone can relate to, Digby says.

"It doesn't matter how beautiful or popular you are, because at some point everyone feels like they don't belong, like they're not accepted," she says.

That feeling drove Digby away from the Brentwood high school to an all-girl Catholic school after ninth grade.

Luckily for her, however, it also drove her to the piano.

She started writing songs secretly, sneaking down to the piano room at night after her family had gone to sleep.

It was a talent show in her senior year of high school that finally launched her performance career.

Lauren Nalepa, who met Digby the night of Digby's first performance and is now her best friend, recalls how nervous Digby was about revealing her music for the first time.

That first performance, a success, turned out to be the first of many. Digby hired a backup band and has played countless Los Angeles-area venues, including the likes of the Whiskey A Go Go and The Troubadour.

Digby crammed her entire UC Berkeley course schedule into three days every week so she could fly back to Los Angeles as often as possible to play shows with her band.

Nalepa has gone to almost every show Digby has ever performed, and has seen her progress from that first nervous night senior year, she says.

"She was really scared at first ... even little coffee shops where nobody was listening to her were way too big for her," Nalepa says. "Now she walks into random huge record labels and pulls out her guitar and starts playing."

Becoming a UC Berkeley student was another factor in coming out of her shell, Digby says.

"With Cal it's almost impossible not to find your niche," Digby says. "It was so exciting to find other kids who also had a passion, who are motivated."

But music has become the main focus of Digby's life-her constant performing has gotten her attention from record labels, and with the hype of the contest, the fame she has gotten glimpses of in the past is now just around the corner.

And if she wins, she's going to jump on her chance.

"As much as I love college, music's number one for me right now," Digby says.

This passion has fueled Digby's musical career to where it is today, and her growth as a musician has coincided directly with her growth as a person, Nalepa says.

"I think the fame has done her really well, it's really opened her up to the whole world," Nalepa says. "She's finally blossomed."

The public can vote for the winner at www.provoice.com.

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