Laurie Berkner: Queen of Kids' Music

Aug. 26, 2006 — -- Once upon a time, Elvis brought out the screaming fans, and then there were the Beatles.

These days there's Laurie Berkner -- only now many of the fans doing the screaming are 3 years old.

You may not recognize her name, but since bursting on the kids' music scene in 1997, Berkner has gained a cult following with tiny American fans and their parents, bumping Barney from the top spot and leaving Elmo in the dust.

With their stuffed animals and bottles in tow, Berkner's pint-size crowd of toddlers is ready to rock.

It's an unexpected dream come true for the star of the show, the 37-year-old Berkner.

"I really was planning to write, you know, be a rock star, basically, honestly," she says.

Influenced by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, she took her folk act to New York in 1992. But she started teaching music to preschoolers to pay the bills.

"I was trying so hard to play rock music," she says. "You know, I was just working too hard. But I was playing with and singing with kids every day and making up songs on the way to work. And at the beginning it was almost like that wasn't something that was real. I didn't see it as real. And this, this is really what I do well."

She began recording those songs for kids and their parents.

Now with four albums, a DVD and appearances on "Noggin" -- a cable channel for preschoolers -- Berkner has secured her position as the queen of kid music.