LAURA JOHNSON
A&E Assistant
Finding sanctuary in a hole of a room, senior Jessica Childress can often be heard singing in the Pepperdine music building, the sound of her voice resonating from the practice rooms. It is here she can let the music that consumes her come out and breathe. Here, where the magic of piano and voice go from mind to paper.
Childress is quick to explain what drives her to keep doing what she is doing.
“I know this may seem a little explicit, but music exudes from me like sweat from my pores. It is my soul and my force,” Childress said.
A singer-songwriter, Childress said she is ready to be the next big star. Her voice is a melting pot of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald-style old school jazz, mixed with Alicia Keys soul and her own breed of vocal styling that together form a truly organic sound.
Childress said her sound is not about being radio friendly but rather one that is purely her own.
Doing as many shows as she can, including most recently a Christmas show with Kenny G, she is making waves with people who matter in the music business. Though she is currently unsigned, Childress has already been busy talking it up with industry people at Geffen records, and she will be releasing her first four-track CD at the end of January. Through performing at a variety of places — including the Rainbow in Los Angeles and at the Malibu Inn for the ABC CEO’s daughter’s birthday party — Childress is getting her name and music out there.
Although officially beginning her career in first grade singing duets with her sister at church, Childress’ mother attests that she has been making some kind of singing noises since birth.
“I know this is what I was born to do,” said Childress, a southern California native.
Beginning classical piano lessons her sophomore year of high school, Childress knows what kind of force she is up against, which is why she decided to go the college route in the first place.
“I’m not about being that musician who is actually a waitress,” she said. A public relations major and music minor, Childress said it is very important that she have a degree in hand.
She cites her manager, junior Chris Jones, as the one who has helped her realize her dreams.
Jones may be young, but he knows his way around the music business and has been one of the main ingredients in Childress’ success so far.
Last year, Jones took a year off of school to work with Joe Simpson, Jessica and Ashlee’s father, as a personal assistant. Drinking everything in he could along the way, Jones decided to come back and finish up his degree in integrated marketing and communications. It was then that he met Childress at a Pepperdine Coffee House.
“I just saw this raw talent in her,” Jones said. “She has a different voice right now and although jazz voices are trying to make a comeback, she has the ability to make it even more appealing to a larger group of people. She’s not just your average rock band.”
From that lone hearing at the Coffee House, Jones said he knew he could not pass up the opportunity to work with Childress.
Roommate Allison Dees said Childress never stops singing or writing.
“I make her sing to me every day,” said Dees, a senior. “I think she actually has the chance to do something with music because she is so street smart and a real people person. I would definitely put my money on her.”
For Childress, melodies and lyrics come to her in one neat package. She will hear a melody in her head and have to rush to a piano. From there, the words usually just come.
“Music moves me in ways that I can’t articulate,” Childress said. “And as of now I feel so lucky that people are taking an interest in me. I’m just little old me and to be here now with this buzz, it’s just crazy.”
Together with Jones, Childress hopes to create something that will really matter to people.
“Tomorrow they may be over me but it doesn’t matter because I will always have music,” she said. “But I want to be big, I will be big.”
To hear some of Childress’ soulful sounds, check out her MySpace artist page at myspace.com/jessicachildress.
01-18-2007