Neighbors weekly newspaper column 2

Paul Caron is one heck of a nice guy (that’s him up above). He’s soft spoken with a friendly smile, lots of people know that about him. He owns and operates a local business, Caron Custom Homes, and even serves as trustee on the Decatur Village Council. But what you may not know about him is this: Paul Caron can sing….and I don’t just mean sing as in “carry a tune,” I mean Paul Caron can knock your socks off sing!

It all started 18 years ago at TJ’s Pour House in Gobles, where at the age of 16, Paul worked as a dishwasher. Karaoke was just becoming popular at the time and TJ’s had Karaoke every Saturday night. After seeing how much fun everyone had getting up there and singing, Paul decided to give it a try. He knew had a pretty good voice.

“One Saturday night I got up there. And wow, I didn’t know I was good. It just sparked something. And I started doing it more often.”

He even developed a bit of a “fan base.” Some of the people who liked to hear Paul sing would sneak him into bars underage for karaoke night (I write this knowing that the statute of limitations is 7 years), and from then on, singing became a hobby for Paul.

By the time he was 29, singing had become a passion. By 2004, he had taught himself to play guitar and even had some singing gigs. He also had written a few of his own songs and began to compete in contests. In 2004, Paul won the Hometown Idol contest sponsored by 103.3 WKFR and the Twin Cities Jaycees. As the winner, he sang the final song of the Hometown Idol Concert on stage at the State Theatre and was awarded the opportunity to make a demo tape with Brown and Brown Studio in Kalamazoo. Paul chose to record a song he wrote, titled “Candlelight” for his demo tape.

“It’s a honkey tonk song about a date looking much better at the bar the night before than the next morning,” he grins. “She sure looked good by candlelight last night, the song says.”

WKFR was supposed to play the song on the radio on a Friday during happy hour but ended up refusing because it’s a country song and they are a pop station.

“From 2004 through 2006, I would compete in anything I could find.” Paul says. He even traveled as far as Huntington, VA to compete in Nashville Star, a nationwide NBC TV singing competition hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus that is similar to American Idol but is the country version. Paul also sent his demo tape to Atlantic Records but talks fizzled out after the rep he was talking to was fired. At one time, someone also wanted to buy his song “Candlelight” thinking it could be used in a movie soundtrack, but they wanted 100 percent copyright and Paul refused.

These days you can find Paul working his tail off as a general contractor in Decatur and Sister Lakes. The family owns two homes in the area, both of which they are renovating: a hundred year old Victorian that has been in his wife, Jennifer’s family for years, and a house on the channel that they actually lifted from the muck. Paul puts his heart into his building, just like his singing.

“How many times do you hear people say, if I could find my contractor I would choke him. I couldn’t stand that!” Paul says. “I feel like after I work for someone, I’ve made a new friend or acquaintance, and that’s really what makes me tick. People will tell you when you are good and when you are not. I do the best job I can because I want it to turn out great. I want all my customers to feel like they hired someone who is competent, good and accomplished, because then they’ll tell other people -- Paul Caron is building my house right now. I’ve had people say that at village functions and that’s what really promotes my business. And I made a new friend. If a customer is not happy with a job, then I’m not happy.”

When he’s not working on houses (yours or his!) he also serves on the Village Council, likes to hunt and fish, and spend time with his family.

Neighbors is a new weekly column about the folks that make Decatur “tick.” If you have comments or know someone who would make a great “Neighbor” please contact [e-mail].