When she was only 6 years old, Malea McGuinness and her 1-year-old sister were whisked away from the Ft. Hood, Texas, army base to live with their grandparents in Long Island. Their mother, who was abusive, had left for Korea in order to escape the police after a visit by child protective services. Their father, who was in the Army and wanted to become a Green Beret, didn’t know what else to do with the two young girls. With such a tumultuous childhood, McGuinness was poised for a tough future. Instead, she’s watching the first single off her debut album rise the charts.

“Music is the thing that saved me,” McGuinness says as she settles into her lunch at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.

The 20-something, who came to Los Angeles after a run on Broadway to write her own music, expects her single to break into the top 20 of the adult contemporary charts any day now (it’s currently No. 21). She’s just performed at Summerfest Music Festival in Milwaukee, has a gig lined up at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, and has a national tour in the works. Her music, a nostalgic nod to ‘70s folk rock, showcases her opera-trained vocals with spare piano and guitar-driven melodies.

For McGuinness, her recent success has been a dream come true and a long time coming. But she knows there’s no way she would be where she is today without the unwavering support of her grandfather and step-grandmother. “My grandma said, ‘If you give them to us, you can’t take them away because we’ll get attached to them,’” recalls McGuinness, who only saw her father once a year if she was lucky.

Despite the pain of her abuse and abandonment, she says that everything happened for a reason.

Her grandparents, already in their late 50s at the time, were strict with the two young girls. In grade school, when McGuinness was prone to leaving class and roaming the hallways without permission, it was her grandmother and a concerned teacher who eventually set her straight.

“I used to come home and tell my grandma I only got one spanking today,” says McGuinness, who went to a Catholic elementary school. “I didn’t have any idea of good discipline because I didn’t get it. I think I just needed attention.”

Still, as a child McGuinness never asked for her mother and never cried. It wasn’t until adulthood that she dealt with the pain of her abuse and abandonment. When she moved to L.A., she called her mother, who now lives in Georgia, and offered her forgiveness.

“It’s OK,” says McGuinness thoughtfully. “I’ve met so many other wonderful people who have taken over family roles in my life.”

It was, in fact, a teacher at her public high school who encouraged her to pursue music. Lacking any formal musical training, McGuinness had nevertheless tried out for her school’s choir. Instead, the choir teacher insisted she try out for the school’s production of “The King and I.”