Jan 11, 2008

Songstress sees her dream come true

Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

San Jose's Jessica Johnson found her dream early. Most of her 19 years have been unwaveringly devoted to bringing it to fruition.

One big step was the release of the talented jazz/R&B vocalist's debut CD, "Till It Happens To You" (info at jessicajohnsononline.com). Releasing a CD has "always been a dream of mine" Johnson said. "I never thought it was going to come true at 19."

Before this, though she loved to perform, Johnson hated to listen to herself sing. "When I would sit there and hear my performance played back, I would hear all the mistakes. So I worked really hard on that album and I was really proud of the finished product," she said.

"That was a full circle moment, when I could listen to a song I had recorded and actually want others to listen to it."

Her vocal stylings are amazingly sophisticated and nuanced for a person her age ... or any age. The material on the album goes from Gershwin to Elton John to new tunes.
"No matter who the artist is, no matter what the time period or (style) - be it country, R&B, blues, jazz, disco - it doesn't matter to me. It's the lyrics. ... It's the story that makes me fall in love with a song."

Johnson decided early on that making songs her own, interpreting popular music in a new way, was the only way to go.

"I have to make (each song) special, make it my own, make it different," she said.

"When I was younger I was in a lot of competitions, and over and over again I would hear people imitating other singers, doing the standard songs, like Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You.' I heard that (song) 10 times at every competition."

Johnson soon realized that singing a song everyone's heard before meant you had to make it "new and fresh."

"You can't try to be someone else," she said. "There's already a Whitney Houston. The audience wants to hear who you are."

Johnson entered many competitions between the ages of 7 and 16. She won awards, including honors at San Jose Idol and Marin Star Search. She also earned the title of California State Teen Ambassador.

Competitions fueled her constant practicing and helped her hone her vocal skills. "I got so much out of that experience," Johnson said. "Watching other people perform, I asked myself, 'What did they do well? What could they have improved on? What could I have done to make that performance better?'

"I worked on making eye contact, figuring out how the audience was feeling. If the audience didn't like a song, I could tell. By the time I ended competing, I knew exactly how to win over a crowd. Some artists have this wonderful sound, but when they get up on stage, they don't project it fully. They might have the voice, have the outfit, but they don't facially express the way they're feeling."

For some, being evaluated can be traumatic. Johnson found it to be a positive experience. "Other young people who like to sing, I tell them that they should do competitions. The judges aren't there to tell you you're doing badly, they're judging you so that you can do better. They're trying to help you," Johnson said.

"Sure, it sucks not winning sometimes. But that's life. You're not always going to win, and to get better, you've got to go through the process of losing. You've just got to learn from that. Like everything, what you get out of something depends on your outlook about it."

Her parents, Richard and Kathy Johnson, encouraged their daughter and her older brother Justin to participate in many activities, including soccer. But when Johnson listened to her grandmother's musicals, she was smitten with singing and dancing. Shirley Temple and Judy Garland delighted her. A video of "Annie" transfixed her. Every day, she sang "Tomorrow." She told her kindergarten classmates she was an orphan. "To this day, when I watch that movie, my heart starts pounding."

Noting their daughter's fascination with performing, Johnson's parents decided to send her to classes. "I don't think they ever thought it was going to turn out to be like this. I just fell in love with it."

At the age of 5, Johnson began taking vocal lessons at the Children's Musical Theater in San Jose. "I feel so blessed, because not everybody gets to find something that they're passionate about at a very young age," she said. "A lot of people, even if they do find it, can't pursue it. So, I feel very lucky and very thankful to my parents for always being by my side, telling me to do what I love."

Johnson now attends San Jose State, majoring in Business. "I'm going to school so that I'll be a smart performer. I just don't want anybody to take advantage of me in the music business."

To help fund the launch of her music career, Johnson also works as an instructor at a fitness club. But she performs at every opportunity. In addition to being a featured artist at last year's San Jose Jazz Festival, Johnson has sung at the Hollywood Palladium, San Francisco's Octavia Lounge and Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles.

"When I was younger, I always imagined myself in these little jazz clubs. Sometimes I'll walk into these clubs and imagine them with Ella Fitzgerald, when she first started singing. I always hoped I'd be doing what I'm doing today."

At the Santa Clara Convention Center Theater show on Saturday, Johnson will feature new material and new arrangements. She'll be backed by a top-notch group of South Bay musicians: keyboardist Tom Tomasello, keyboardist/organist Don Bosco, drummer Frank Cavazos, bassist Joel Wilson and Jeannine O'Neil on sax and electric guitar.

Though Johnson knows she has chosen a difficult path, she's determined to make her musical career work. "Honestly, I can't see myself doing anything else," she said. "My friend told me, 'There shouldn't be a backup plan for you, Jessica. You're a singer. This is what you're meant to do.' When I picture myself in the future, performing is all I think about."