R&B Artist Tessa is About to Take a Big Step With USA Tour
Sudbury raised artist Tessa has been working hard on new music after relocating to Toronto in 2013. Finally, her hard work is paying off as she is about to embark on a US Tour including stops at SXSW and ending at a showcase event in Tampa. Locally you might recognize Tessa from her years lending her voice to YES Theatre including her role as Mary Magdalene in their sold-out production of Jesus Christ Superstar. We got in touch with Tessa and got all the details on her music including her upcoming tour, EP, and how you can help her get started!
Most people in Sudbury are probably familiar with you from musical theatre. Tell us a bit about your musical style and influences.
Yes! Although I have been a musician almost my whole life, I can definitely credit musical theatre with teaching me how to be an actual performer. My musical influences are SO vast considering my ethnic and musical background. My mom, being Latina from Argentina, and my father being of Jamaican and British decent, showered me with an incredibly musical collection as a child growing up. Anything from Supertramp, to Bob Marley, from Radiohead to 112 and Biggie Smallz. I remember jumping around in the living room to ACDC with my dad one day, and driving around listening to Kriss Kross on a cassette tape the next haha. I would make up songs in the schoolyard with my friends at St. Andrew’s Elementary school and choreograph dances. I think I realized fairly young that music would be a huge part of my life, but didn’t really know until recently to what extent. I started training classically on the cello as a teenager and moved on to playing in various orchestras in Sudbury. While in university I kind of dove headfirst into acting and musical theatre with the (then new) company YES Theatre, which led to professional acting opportunities with the Sudbury Theatre Centre, which led to my move to Toronto in 2013 to pursue performance as a career. Being in a new city and stimulated by all sorts of new energies and surroundings, I was inspired to start creating solo, original music and have been writing original materials ever since.
Tell us how your music has developed since moving south.
Since moving south I have definitely learned more about who I am as an individual and a musician. I can say that I am definitely working on a more commercial sound down in Toronto than I was up in Sudbury. I am learning to not only produce music for myself but adjust my style and preferences to freelance music for other artists. My upcoming EP will feature an alternative RNB sound. I have been working closely with some amazing RNB and HIP HOP artists here in Toronto, and that is where my new sound is leaning toward.
We hear you’re working on an EP right now, when will we get to hear it?
My goal release for this EP is April 2016!
Give us the details on your upcoming tour and fundraiser.
I have had the incredible opportunity to go to a US tour in March 2016! I will be performing in Detroit, LA, Austin Texas at SXSW, Orlando and Tampa Bay! The tour will last the duration of March. It will be such an incredible experience getting my original music on the map in the USA! I have launched a GO FUND ME to help with the tour costs, any donations, big or small are so welcome! I also just hosted a fundraising party in Toronto at Thoroughbred Food and Drink and performed with some of my collaborators including DEP BCS (HIP HOP), TAFARI ANTHONY, and N.A.K. (DJ).
Where can we get more information and follow your journey?
You can follow me on Soundcloud to hear any music I have and will release. You can also keep up with me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Jessica Lovelace
Jessica Lovelace is a Public Relations and Communications grad, musical theatre enthusiast, lover of live music and part-time unicorn tamer. Some have said that the Big Dripper from Sub City is a regional delicacy and the perfect end to a Sudbury Saturday Night – Jessica is definitely one of those people. No, the hair is not a perm.
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