In my line of business I get to meet people who are important, movers and shakers and upcoming stars. I use many methods to promote people and I'm a hired gun to those who want to be promoted. But I got lucky on this next item.
It seems that right here in Frederick a local hometown "girl next door" is rapidly becoming a Teen Pop Star. I had the chance to interview her and I'm posting it here:
David Bruce talks to Jessica Mellott
(www.jessicamellott.com & www.myspace.com/jessicamellott)
Teen singer Jessica Mellott is a full time college student
at Berklee College of Music. She gigs, writes music and
collaborates with musicians from all over the world.
David Bruce had the opportunity to catch up with her at
her home base in Frederick recently.
David Bruce: Hi Jessica. I read your bio at your
www.jessicamellott.com website, it looks like you started
music at an early age.
JM: Yes, I started private voice lessons when I was five
and over the years trained with several local vocal
instructors. I was also in the Frederick Children’s Chorus
for several years. In high school I took voice lessons over
the phone with a well known vocal coach in California named
Steven Memel.
David Bruce: You took lessons over the phone? How did
that work out?
JM: It was cool! Steven is an amazing vocal coach. I would
play the background music on the computer and sing into the
phone. I learned a lot from him. We met in person when I
visited LA a few years ago.
David Bruce: I notice you have a pretty active MySpace.
Can you share a little about that?
JM: I think Myspace is a great tool for musicians. I was
picked to be in a book about Myspace because I have had so
many plays there. Myspace is a great way to connect with
fans and network. I am on a lot of different sites
including Tagged, Friendster, Tagworld etc. Some of the
sites have featured me and that has been great exposure.
Zorpia.com (www.zorpia.com/jessicamellott) recently did a
feature on me and I ended up with about 1 million plays on
one of my songs in a just a few days.
David Bruce: Are you touring now?
JM: Since I am in college, I can’t really tour, but I do
gig a lot in Boston. I have performed at the Berklee
Performance Center, The Hard Rock Café, The Harvard Club
and a lot of other places there. I am graduating from
college a year early and plan to tour then.
David Bruce: You mentioned you work with musicians from
all over the world. Can you tell us more ?
JM: Yes, I love collaborating with other musicians. One of my
co-writers on “Life Grabs You” was stationed in Iraq when
we wrote the song. I have written several songs with Jimmy
Greenspoon, the talented keyboardist from the legendary
group Three Dog Night. I recently recorded with Emmy Award
winning producer Brad Hatfield of the Boston Pops who has
worked with many great artists including Aretha Franklin
one of my influences. Currently, I am working with some
great musicians at school including Matt Baamonde, a
guitarist at Berklee, and many more.
David Bruce: What should we be looking for from Jessica
in the future?
JM: I am going to be featured at AllyKatzz, an internet
site for teen girls. I am writing and performing a jingle
for an energy drink company. Myxertones (the ringtone
company) has asked to feature me again…my last ringtone was
downloaded 6,000 times in 24 hours so they were happy with
that. If anyone wants to download it for free, it’s at
www.myxer.com/jessicamellott. I also have a lot of
performances coming up and I will be putting out some new
songs soon.
David Bruce: Sounds like you are busy! Thanks so much for
taking time with me.
JM: Thank you! I would love David Bruce readers to check
out www.jessicamellott.com, and add me as a friend at
www.myspace.com/jessicamellott. Happy New Year everyone and
best wishes for an amazing 2009!
Jessica's MySpace page statistics: Profile Views: 449180
Jessica's YouTube page statistics Subscribers: 109 Channel Views: 5,440
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Issue #50
Life in Frederick Maryland
Harper's Weekly Engraving from 1859
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