Soul singer Vivian Green who’s vocals laced the hit song, “Emotional Rollercoaster” was living the dream. She was doing what she loved to do, sing, and was about to be a new mommy. But when she gave birth, Vivian faced every parent’s worst nightmare: her newborn son, Jordan, was not expected to live due to the diagnosis of a mysterious and rare illness. The news was enough to drive her to contemplate suicide.
“When he was born, I was told he would die in seven days and that [if] he [lived he] might be mentally challenged. He was late to walk and talk and he wouldn’t eat for a year and a half. At that point I definitely didn’t want to be here. I didn’t think it could get any lower than that,” she reveals.
In the five years since her last album was released, Vivian took time away from music to focus on her son’s health. “We weren’t slaving over the record all this time,” she explains, “I’m a mom, so I’ve really been doing that. My son was born with an unknown syndrome so I’ve really been taking time off to be a mom and to deal with with Jordan. For the first few years it was really hard because he was in and out of hospital, a lot of surgery, all sorts of things that you can go through in a children’s hospital. One year he refused to eat at all and had to be fed through a tube.
Dealing with the pain of Jordan’s condition, in addition to the pain of a recent breakup, helped Vivian to find peace in her faith.
“My spiritual growth skyrocketed. Sometimes you have no choice but to believe that God knows what he’s doing. I realized…
…that He chose me to be this child’s mother, so He thinks I’m strong enough to handle it.”
Green’s prayers haven’t gone unanswered. Jordan is now eight years old, continues to develop at a healthy rate, and is proving to be a miracle child.
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“He’s amazing,” she says. “He took his first standardized test and tested off the charts. I want him to be a surgeon, but he wants to be a rock star.” she says.
Vivian spent a year on the road with Jill Scott when Words & Sounds Vol 1 was being introduced to the world. “What was most exciting about it for me was to watch how it happened,” Green recalls. “It was definitely an organic project that catapulted into this huge monstrosity of a thing. I enjoyed that. We started off doing clubs and then eight months later she was selling out the Symphony houses and I thought that was awesome how a small label that could, had a success like that.” She still collaborates with other soul artists on tour and in the studio.
I guess the old saying is true: “God allows us to be so low, that we have no choice but to look up to Him.”
Keep looking up Vivian.
Visit the BlackDoctor.org Mental Health center for more articles and tips.
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