3 minute read
MAKING HER OWN MUSIC
Early Years and Beyond:
According to documented family records, I performed my first song, “Tonight You Belong to Me” at the age of 18 months and haven’t stopped since. My Mother had a short lived stint as a teenage Big Band singer back in the 40’s and as such had a huge jazz record collection There was always music in the house from my earliest memory My musical acumen definitely came from my Mother’s gene pool As a kid growing up in the then small town of Burlington, Ontario here in Canada, I’d take every opportunity I could get to listen to my favourite R & B artists, right along with all of the music of the day. Sunday nights were especially exciting as I got to watch the Ed Sullivan Show. Many Motown Acts performed on his show, but my favourites were The Supremes After the show was over, I’d run up to my bedroom, grab my microphone brush and do my very best Diana Ross imitation in the mirror I absolutely loved her My transistor radio came everywhere with me and as I grew, my parents purchased a sound system for me that I kept in my bedroom, so I could listen to my favourite records. I joined my first band at the age of 20 which really opened my eyes to the business There was some travelling, but the touring really went into full gear at the age of 26 while performing with various Shows and Top 40 bands There were numerous 3-month tours of Western Canada, Northern Ontario, Quebec, Detroit, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. We also toured in various clubs in 6 different cities in Switzerland and Armed Forces Bases in Germany and even performed in the lounge at the ultra posh Fontainebleu Hotel in Miami Beach for a month That was super exciting My last touring gig was with a 3 Girl front band by the name of Angel Fever It was amazing as we got to cover all of the great female bands of our time including The Supremes, Sister Sledge and the Pointer Sisters, just too name a few. We played in top rooms in Toronto, Canada and worked the Las Vegas Hilton and the Reno Hilton It was so cool as there were costume changes, choreography and a chance to sing 3 part harmony with other female vocalists Although my focus is now on songwriting and recording, I love to perform live when the opportunity arises.
New Music:
As a follow up to the success of 2022's track entitled "Our Groove" my new track entitled "Best of Things" is a Jazz/R & B Fusion, 8th note Modern Groove featuring smooth vocals with an uplifting message that's sure to inspire. Produced by Lou Bartolomucci and Co-produced and written by myself, the track features the Canadian superstar horn section of Michael Massaro on sax, William Carn on trombone and Tony Carlucci on trumpet and flugel horn This sophisticated track has an addictive hook and funky outro that's sure to be a favourite among Jazz and R & B Lovers Moving forward, I have quite a few more tunes in the can yet to record and look forward to their production. As I meet more and more like minded musicians from around the world through social media, I hope to collaborate with them as well
SINGER/SONGWRITER
Songwriting Inspiration:
I had written a couple of tunes back in the 80’s which we performed while touring with a Rock Band by the name of Airwave, but my real songwriting just began in the last few years After a long hiatus from the business, I was inspired to begin writing original tunes after recording a 6 song cover LP in 2020. Once I realized how difficult it was to market cover songs because of sync licensing costs, I decided to take the plunge into writing and recording my own tunes I work with my producer Lou who owns a great studio Thanks to my early piano training, I’m able to come up with the basic chord structure and melody lines for the tunes and once the lyrics are formed, Lou (who is a highly skilled guitarist and keyboard player), helps me develop each song and lays down a demo. At that point, depending on how the track feels, we decide whether or not to go big with it My first success at this resulted in “Our Groove” which has been met with gratifying success from audiences and radio stations alike
Songwriting is a process that has it’s ups and downs just like anything else, but my favourite part is in the early stages of coming up with a brand-new idea for a song There’s a lot of recording vocal parts on my phone, plunking out melodies and chords on the keyboard and spending the day creating the songs in my head. This keeps me in a positive and creative frame of mind and they are always exciting days. The most challenging part of the process is laying down the initial tracks in my recording software which is always met with continual learning curves, but I’m getting better at it all the time with each song I write
My inspiration to keep singing and writing songs comes from my undying love of music. When I’m not listening to it, there’s a song in a loop in my head. It just never ends and is part of my DNA. I love listening to the new up and coming R & B artists and when I fall in love with a song, it stays on my playlist for months at a time At this point, I’ll be writing and recording music as long as time allows