Kelly Sweet
10,536 plays
27,956 views
27,956 views
Band/artist history
You know the feeling. Weve all had it. Chills run up and
down your spine, and the hair stands up on the back of your
neck. The reaction is so strong, you can actually feel it
moving through your body.
Somehow - and it is inexplicable - the melding of voice,
talent, words, and melody have come together to create a
sublime moment. Its as if the singer was privy to your
most intimate thoughts and feelings. A deep connection is
forged between listener and vocalist: you have become soul
mates. The pleasure - the feeling of oneness - is so
intense, you listen over and over. Such is the experience
of hearing 17-year-old singer Kelly Sweet for the first
time. The opening oohs of We Are One, the title track
from her debut album coming from Razor & Tie in 2006, stop
you dead in your tracks. Hushed and hymn-like, Sweets voice
creates a lush world of beauty. Fittingly, the songs lyrics
urge listeners to take comfort in the community of all
souls. I am you, you are me, we are one, Sweet sings in
her supernaturally crystalline voice. Simple words imbued
with the uncommon wisdom of a singer who seems to have lived
a thousand lifetimes in her short time on earth.
No pre-fab pop confection or eager-to-please talent-show
contest winner, Sweet possesses the kind of organic talent
that is driven by an innate need to connect. In an age when
savvy music fans are rejecting the hollow hype that
accompanies the arrival of each "next big thing," Sweet
relies solely on talent and passion to convey who she is and
what she has to say. She is an artist who is driven to share
her gifts with the world because she has no other choice--a
fact that makes her extraordinarily unique among today's
demographically-designed pop stars. Like such stylistically
diverse artists as Norah Jones, Josh Groban and Dido, Sweet
is that rare singer that combines unassailable credibility
and talent with an uncanny ability to connect with a wide
audience of music fans.
To spend even the briefest time with Sweet and her music, it
becomes readily clear that the singer possesses an emotional
and spiritual sensibility that cannot be measured in years.
After all, Sweet was only three years old when it became
apparent to her that she would be devoting her life to
making music. But even at that tender age, she knew that
performing was about more than getting approval and
attention.
One of my first musical memories, she recalls, is of me
standing at the bay window in my house when I was three
singing I Will Always Love You. I knew then that singing
was something I just had to do - it was like eating and
breathing for me. But its always been so much more than
people clapping and saying, Oh, that was lovely. Theres a
feeling I get when I sing thats like a freedom and a peace
within myself. And I always felt like it was my purpose to
impart that feeling to the rest of the world.
Perhaps it was divine fate, then, that Sweet was born into a
musical household (in Cape Cod, MA) one in which her jazz
pianist father and her artist mother fostered a love and
respect for music that began when she was an infant. I was
hearing music before I even came out of the womb, Sweet
laughs. My father was always playing the piano. And days
after I was born while still in the hospital, my mother
gently put headphones up to my ears...it was the sound of a
tinkling piano. Raised on the jazz standards that were
part of her fathers repertoire, the singer gravitated to
her Dads side at the piano to learn musical notes soon
after she could walk. Her first public performance followed,
at when she was 4 years old, at the Cape Cod Conservatory.
I sang When You Wish Upon a Star and Ive Got No
Strings from Pinocchio, she says. My father played piano
for me. I was so excited.
At the age of 7, following her parents divorce, Sweet and
her mother moved to Kanab, UT. My mother wanted to paint
Utah, the singer explains about their adopted home state.
And Kanab was a really safe town. Five thousand people, one
stoplight. Everybody knows you. My mom loved it.
Ironically, it was in this tiny Southwestern desert outpost
that Sweet and her mother began to plant the seeds that
would lead to the serendipitous blossoming of the singers
professional career. Working regularly with a vocal coach,
Sweet honed her skills as a performer by singing at state
fairs, county festivals, and community theaters. I was
consciously trying to reach the world, Sweet says, but I
knew that I had to take it slowly. You cant all of a sudden
go out and get a record deal. I was developing myself as an
artist so that I would be ready when the time came.
As the audience got larger, Sweets aspirations grew. Sweet
and her mother rented their home in Utah and went on the
road for two years, traveling back and forth between Kanab,
Las Vegas and Los Angeles in search of every performance
opportunity. Barely 14, the singer opened for Kenny Loggins
when his tour came through Las Vegas. And when her mom sent
the Los Angeles Lakers a CD of her daughter singing, the
team booked Sweet to sing the National Anthem three
different times.
One synchronistic encounter after another eventually led
Sweet to a meeting with Grammy-nominated producer, arranger
and songwriter Mark Portmann (Josh Groban, Celine Dion) in
July of 2004. The meeting ended up being the most fateful
appointment of her young career thus far. Mark and I
instantly got each other, she says. We started working
together immediately. Everything felt so natural. And we
never really had to try to search for songs because they
just came to us. We ended up with too many songs.
One of the first songs Sweet recorded was an unlikely cover
of the Aerosmith classic, Dream On. "When I sang it, it
just felt like magic. Indeed, Sweet turns the former rock
anthem into a spiritual salve for our troubled times, made
all the more poignant by the difficult circumstances that
surrounded the songs recording. I was very sad at the
time, says Sweet, because my father was undergoing
chemotherapy in Boston while I was recording my album in Los
Angeles. I knew that what I was doing was keeping him going,
and if I kept my dream alive, maybe he would too."
Other highlights include the uplifting Now We Are Free,
the Sanskrit theme (written by Hans Zimmer and Dead Can
Dances Lisa Gerrard) from the film The Gladiator, the
playfully sensual Raincoat, which clearly shows off the
jazzy influence of Sweets youth; and the lilting and
languid Crush, in which Sweet duets stunningly with
herself, creating an internal dialogue about a secret
infatuation that is clearly turning into love.
The latter song is one of several on the album that were
co-written by Sweet, with Portmann as her songwriting
collaborator and guide. I started writing lyrics when I was
12, she says. One weekend, I wrote lyrics to the song that
became I Will Be Waiting, and I gave them to Mark when we
were in the studio. I was so nervous to give Mark Portmann,
the amazing writer, my lyrics. I mean, I was 16! I sat there
and closed my eyes while he read them, and he said, Wow.
We've got to put music to this.' I was so happy.
The exuberance and youth of Sweets undeniable teen status
can be heard in the albums more contemporary-sounding pop
songs. How Bout You is a joyous pop smash written on the
singers 17th birthday.
Not your typical pop record in any way, shape or form, WE
ARE ONE has a much more ambitious sensibility than those
being heard on Top 40 radio today. With songs sung in
English, Italian, French, and Sanskrit, and melodies that
partake of both jazz and classical influences, WE ARE ONE
conveys a sense of depth, intimacy and sophistication not
often heard in todays pop landscape. The magnificent
Giorno Dopo Giorno couples Sweets soaring vocals with a
thrilling string arrangement, bringing listeners the kind of
intense joy that can usually only be experienced in the
worlds finest opera houses. The song originally had
English lyrics, says Sweet, and it was called Who Can I
Believe In? We felt that the melody was too European and
didnt work with the lyrics, so we asked Marco Marinangelli,
who writes Italian lyrics for Josh Groban, to translate the
words into Italian. It came out beautifully. Sweet says she
has always gravitated to the beautiful sounds of languages
other than English. I was classically trained beginning at
the age of 11, she says, and thats when I began to sing
in other languages. It always came very easily to me."
WE ARE ONE, then, is that rarest of musical experiences--a
seamless emotional journey that deeply touches listeners of
all ages with its beauty, grace, individuality, and courage.
But perhaps to call Sweet courageous is overstating
something that is really much simpler. This music is not
about me, she says. Its about the soul in all of us. I am
just happy to have a voice to convey these things to the
world.
And the world is certainly a better place because of it.Your musical influences
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An extraordinary seductive composition beautifully song by a songbird with style and talent...Wonderful...Must come back to listen to more...Cheersreally beautiful.This is one of the best song-performences I've ever heard.
One day Celine Dion and Josh Groban is proud to be a guest-artist in one of your concerts.
I have never felt my spine before I hear you sing. And all the hairs on my arms raises. You have a magical voice.This is a beatyful song and your voice is breathtaking!All comments (15)
10,536 plays
27,956 views
27,956 views
Admin
Kelly
@kellysweetmusic
Kelly: If you read this...I like how your voice is out front in these tunes. I have listened to the ones on you official web site, and although the music is quite cool, very current production, good tunes, it loses a lot of what makes your voice so special. You could do really great jazz... Carry on...