By Bruce Barton

Janie Sykes Lidey and her sister Carol Casas, wife of Los Altos Mayor David Casas, display Lidey’s Emmy award.

Growing up in Los Altos, Janie Sykes Lidey loved music and often sang to her sister, Carol. Now this Los Altos High School graduate, a mom and high school music teacher in Anchorage, Alaska, is making a name for herself with her music. Lidey won a Northwest Regional Emmy Award June 25 for a composition, “Change of Heart,” about the wrongs of prejudice. An Anchorage television station used her song for a public service announcement.

“Change of Heart,” recorded on her first CD, “On Solid Ground,” offers the words, “The world is full of all kinds of people / Inside our blood flows the same / Let’s tear down all the walls that we build / And start a brand new game.”

Lidey, who performed at the Los Altos High School 50th reunion party in May, said the song came to her quickly.

“You sit down and in 15 minutes, it’s done,” she said last week during a visit to Los Altos to see sister Carol. Carol Sykes is now Carol Casas, wife of Los Altos Mayor David Casas. “(The song) flowed through me. It was a gift.”

The song coincided with an anti-prejudice program, “Change of Heart,” presented at East High School where Lidey teaches. The school is diverse, with students of many nationalities speaking 40 different languages. The television station learned of Lidey’s talent through her superintendent.

Her recent success has been a pleasant surprise for Lidey, who put her singer-songwriter career on the back burner for three decades while she established herself as a teacher and raised a family.

Last year, she decided she had waited long enough. She took piles of songs she had been writing since age 12 and chose her 10 best for the CD, released last November.

She said her CD has sold out at local outlets in Anchorage as word of her Emmy win has spread. Lidey brought copies to Los Altos with her and has a limited number available for sale at Linden Tree Children’s Recordings & Books on State Street.

Despite the recent Emmy honor, Lidey doesn’t see herself doing any touring at this point in her life.

“I love being a mom,” she said, her 5-year-old son, Tristan, by her side. “Being on the circuit doesn’t fit into family life.”

What also seems to be important to Lidey is having her songs make an impact - on the heart. The recent Los Altos Relay For Life benefit for the American Cancer Society played another of her songs. “Something About An Angel,” a message to those who have lost loved ones, during the relay event. Lidey also wants to offer the song to families of soldiers who have fallen in the Iraq war.

“She’s amazing,” said sister Carol. “She’s one of those people who’s beautiful inside and out.”