- December 4, 2025
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Casey Schuber isn't after fame or glamour.
As she sits under the thatched roof of The Big Tiki Lounge, with the pastel colors and palms of Ocean Boulevard as her backdrop, she doesn't need anything greater than that: to sing and play guitar as Casey on the Key.
Being a contestant on "American Idol," or having the chance to sing alongside guitarist Les Paul when she was younger, were steps along the way, but her brushes with big-name musicians haven't made her any less eager to claim a place in the local community.
Schuber says she began singing before she could "really fully form words."
At a young age, she was making appearances on shows like "Star Search," "American Idol Jr.," and "Showtime at the Apollo," as well as local competitions in her home of New Jersey.
A third generation singer, she was supported by her family in her endeavors, including her parents Ed Schuber Jr., and Liz Schuber, who owns a New Jersey-based wedding band, and her grandparents Ed Schuber Sr., and June Schuber, who has performed in a church choir and local venues.
During her tween years, she performed alongside Les Paul on guitar at The Iridium club on Broadway, singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," although it wasn't until she began learning guitar in her teenage years, a time when she also started writing her own music, that she understood Paul's significance in the music world.
Starting prior to guitar, Schuber also learned piano as well, largely teaching herself on both instruments out of preference.
All along, being on "American Idol" was the ultimate goal.
But the reality of the show is much less glamorous than many realize, and Schuber initially shared that outsider's perception.
The months-long process would involve numerous separate auditions, many sleepless nights spent rehearsing, and many days lost from her late junior and early senior years of high school.
It was also one that would break the relatively shy teenager out of her shell.
The first time she auditioned, at age 16, she didn't make the program, but when she decided to try again at 17, she was selected as a contestant on Season 10 (2011).
During her second audition experience, sitting in the Izod Center in New Jersey and waiting to sing Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" for the corporate producers, she listened silently, feeling terrified as others warmed up their voices.
"There's just thousands of people in this arena, and of course, it was terrifying, but also one of the most exciting things I'd ever done," she said. "It was hours and hours of waiting, probably nine or 10 hours, I think, I was sitting in a chair for waiting for my section to be called."
Multiple auditions later, she was singing "Feeling Good" for the big three judges: Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler, who was Schuber's personal idol.
The hardest part of that round wasn't the crowd or the many cameras.
"That really was the most nerve-wracking part, was walking in and seeing one of my idols in front of me, and just having to perform in front of them, knowing that there's a chance that they may hate you, but doing it anyway, throwing caution to the wind," she said.
Nonetheless, she left with the slip of paper known as the "golden ticket" to Hollywood.
There, she said, many contestants stayed awake throughout the night performing, and the amount of time invested in rehearsing could be the difference between moving forward and being sent home.
Nonetheless, Schuber advanced to the next round in Las Vegas, where she was one of 61 contestants who sang tunes by The Beatles in the hopes of making it into the top 24.
The challenge excited her, as The Beatles were one of her favorite bands, while she was also glad to be paired with two contestants with whom she had become friends, Jacee Badeaux and Luke Shaffer.
She says the group was originally assigned "The Fool on the Hill," but, with some pushback from producers, changed their song to "I've Just Seen a Face," as they had been having trouble making the harmonies work and keeping the beat with the initial song.
"There were quite a few groups that went ahead of us, and I remember we were all sweating because everybody was so good, and everyone had really arranged their harmonies so well, and next thing you know, they call our names," she said.
Amid the adrenaline rush, not all of the details of what followed registered, but she says she somewhat recalls Tyler's comments.
"It was something to that effect, where he was expecting us to be terrible, and he was pleasantly surprised that it was great," she said.
However, that round was the one that sent Schuber and Shaffer home, while Badeaux stayed on, later reaching the top 40. As is common for contestants at that level, she didn't receive a reason for the elimination.
Although Schuber would appear on "coming up next" commercials, the segment was ultimately not aired. She said she understands why the show needed to focus on the higher-ranking contestants.
Schuber says her experience taught her about what people are capable of when they are truly passionate about something, and about her commonalities and differences with people from all walks of life, while exposing her to different ways of performing music.
After stints with a Clearwater band and then a New Jersey-based cover band, Schuber set her sights on a place often known as "Music City" — Nashville, Tennessee.
Upon moving there with her partner, Eugene Fornario, she found a highly competitive environment that was difficult for outsiders. As the concerns of daily life took over, with Schuber working multiple jobs including a bartending role, her focus turned to day-to-day survival.
"For years, I just didn't play music. I just gave it up. I said, maybe it's just not for me anymore," she said.
She recalls that period of nearly five years as a dark time, where her mental health was impacted and she stopped singing even when alone, as it felt like false hope.
Then, with Schuber seeking a change, the couple moved to St. Pete, and then to Sarasota, in an event she says almost was like fate.
In Sarasota, she had no job lined up, but a new establishment, which Dave Balot and Mike Holderness were opening in Siesta Key, The Big Tiki Lounge, was seeking a musician.
After she became connected with Balot, a friend of Ed Schuber, Balot decided she would be a good fit for the location and offered an opportunity for which she calls herself "forever grateful."
It was time to dust off the guitar.
"It was simple," Balot wrote the Observer. "I asked my mutual friends about Casey, who gave her personal and professional glowing reviews, and if Ed said she could sing like Liz, that's all I needed to know."
Schuber says her first performance at the bar, in January 2023, was even more terrifying than "American Idol," because of how long it had been since her last time on stage, and because she was still an outsider in the community.
As she took to the stand, her body was shaking, but as she continued playing, she realized she had finally escaped the issues of the past few years.
"It was almost like someone reached down and pulled me out of that, and reintroduced music in my life, and finally it was back, and I'd almost forgotten that's what the problem was," she said. "That's how long it had been and how complacent I had gotten, and as soon as it was reintroduced, and I started singing again, really singing again, I felt like, 'There I am. There it is. And I felt like myself again."
It was the start of what she says has been the best three years of her life.
"It's a big community, and everyone's really close, so I was worried that I was going to be a little ostracized," she said. "I've got pink hair, I've got tattoos. I'm from the North. I didn't know how people were going to view me, and I was so pleasantly surprised and happy to find out that everyone here was so accepting and welcoming."
Schuber, who now performs a variety of songs at the restaurant four days a week, says she's grateful for the chance to wake up each day and do what she loves again "in a place that makes me so happy and surrounded by people that I really love."
"It's been amazing," she said. "I've met so many cool people from all walks of life here. It's a melting pot, I feel, where everyone has come here at some point from somewhere else, and the ones that were born and raised here know everything about the area. And everyone's amazing. They really are. And again, it's all in my life because of music. It just always comes back to that."
