If you say the name Angie Aparo, most people won’t know who you’re talking about. But, if you’ve heard the song “Cry” performed by Faith Hill, you have at least heard his songwriting abilities.

Singer/songwriter Aparo was introduced to music at an early age through his mother, who made music a strong presence in their home.

“I kind of got exposed to it [because] my mother sang a lot in the house,” he said. “I just knew I wanted to sing after being around it with my mother and I tried to figure out a way to survive while I did it.”

For many years, Aparo was constantly part of some type of band. However, in the mid-’90s, he decided to begin a solo career. He began by putting out his first album, Out of the Everywhere, in 1996.

“That kind of started to really focus me as a career. It was the first thing I ever put out,” the Atlanta based Aparo said. “At that point I wasn’t doing it to have a career, I just knew I wanted to make a record.”

Although the original purpose of coming out with an album was to have something to sell at shows, it became the starting point for bigger things. While opening for music duo Evan and Jaron, Aparo was introduced to an agent, eventually meeting music producer Matt Serletic in 1997. Soon, Aparo found himself performing for Clive Davis and getting a record deal for Melisma/Arista Records.

“It’s funny. It’s like when I kind of didn’t try to go after it, it started to happen,” Aparo said.

With the help of Davis and Serletic, Aparo released his second album, The American. The 2000 release contained 13 of Aparo’s original songs. The first single, “Spaceship,” not only received radio play, but the video was also aired on VH1. This first single soon began to do very well and started to gain Aparo fans.

“I was surprised at how well it did [as] kind of a cult independence thing,” he said. “I don’t know if it ever got on the charts but it remained a high spun record on a lot of stations.”

Unfortunately, Aparo’s music career hit a bit of a bump in the road when Aparo was forced to go back to being an independent artist.

Being an independent artist again didn’t stop Aparo. In March of 2002, he put out his third album, which had eight cover songs and two originals.

Through it all, Aparo’s fans never gave up on him, having stayed dedicated throughout his career.

“My fans are just so loyal and I just have this really strong fan base, which is really cool,” said Aparo.

Most recently, Aparo has had his music heard on the radio via country singer Faith Hill. Serletic met Hill at the Country Music Awards, at which time he told her that he had a great song for her.

“He got her the song but then it was like a year before they decided to do it,” Aparo said. “It was completely out of left field for me because I’m not a Nashville songwriter. It was really just Matt [Serletic] got her the song and she thanked God and fell in love with it.”

Hill has been sure to give credit where credit is due when it comes to “Cry.”

“She’s helped me out a lot just in mentioning me and talking about me a lot in her interviews,” Aparo said. “She’s really good to her songwriters.”

Even though Aparo seems to have found success in writing for others, he has not lost focus on his own solocareer. Currently he is working on his fourth solo album, which is halfway recorded at the moment. Due out in April of this year, it will contain all original songs.

However, as Aparo continues his music career, among his hopes are to find more success in the way that he did with the help of Hill. In fact, male country star and Hill’s husband, Tim McGraw, is one of the artist who Aparo would like to hear sing one of his songs.

“I just want to keep writing and recording records, maybe find a few more Faith Hills,” Aparo said. “I think if I can do it [write songs for other artists] within my career, if I can have songs that spill over like ‘Cry’ did, I think that’d be cool.”

For more information on Angie Aparo, visit his website at www.angieaparo.com.