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Blue-Eyed Soul Songstress
Leigh Jones Gets Dream Team
Launch with
Berry Gordy, Al Bell, Kerry Gordy, Walter
Afanasieff, Wayman Tisdale, Bruce Fisher and Billy Meshel ALL
Involved in Her Sumptuous Debut,
“Throughout
my career I have been blessed to discover many great musical
talents. I feel Leigh Jones is destined to be one of the next
great stars. She can do it all – Pop, R&B,
Jazz and Blues. She’s
awesome!”
–
Berry Gordy
Only
once in an era does a young performer come along who is so dazzling,
so captivating and so undeniable in their talent that they gather
the gale force of the most respected icons in the business beneath
their wings. Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter
Leigh Jones is that
amazing once in a lifetime artist. Having made passionate believers
and hands-on supporters out of both Motown Records founder
Berry Gordy AND Stax
Records maverick Al Bell,
Leigh Jones is fortified to take on the international pop music
marketplace with her powerful debut album,
Music in My
Soul (on Peak
Records – a division of the Concord Music Group).
Destined to
be heralded as possibly the most naturally soulful white female R&B
singer since Teena Marie,
Leigh (pronounced lee) has recorded an assured and
semi-autobiographical gem of a debut. The 12-song album literally
swings from the mission statement title track (complete with scat
lines and lusciously layered backgrounds) to a contemporary spin on
the DeBarge classic “All
This Love” specially produced for her by smooth jazz giant
Wayman Tisdale. Pop
production great Walter
Afanasieff (along with
Clark Anderson) got behind Leigh with the bittersweet funk of “Freefall”
while songwriting legend
Bruce Fisher (composer of “You
Are So Beautiful,” among scores of other classics) worked with
Leigh on nearly half of the album’s songs. Fisher states, “Leigh
Jones is a pleasure to work with, a delight to listen to and a joy
to behold.”
Compositionally, Leigh turns in a finger-snappin’ piano
jazz rave up titled “Cain’t
Get Enough of Your Love”
as well as the lowdown backbeat blues “I’m
Leavin’ You.” And in what is the coup of the year, she inspired
the legendary Berry Gordy to come out of retirement to produce the
song “Cold in L.A.,” an
introspective meditation on the façade of phoniness that naïve
hopefuls find when they first arrive in
Hollywood. It’s a story Leigh knows
all to well as she has been diligently honing her chops and taking
her knocks on the scene for a few years now.
The
daughter of a prolific Hollywood session singer/former Berklee
School of Music instructor and the graduate of a Los Angeles County
High School for The Arts (Josh
Groban was a classmate), Leigh Jones has been developing a
steady buzz ever since she was taken under the wing of industry
veteran Kerry Gordy. “I
had a concept for an idea unique to the marketplace,” he states.
“I told my staff to find me a beautiful young girl who had
soul at the very core of her being. They brought me over a 100 girls
to audition, but when Leigh sat next to me - before she even opened
her mouth - I knew she was the girl.
And when I got her in the studio, she was even better than I could
have imagined.” After Leigh and Kerry matched wits on
Billie Holiday’s
proverbial “God Bless the
Child,” they’ve been sworn and loyal partners in creative crime
ever since.
“I’ve always
known that I wanted to be a singer,” says Leigh who first sang in
public performing the
Pointer Sisters’ “American
Music” at a first grade talent show. “I loved R&B from the very
beginning. My family had a lot of jazz around the house. And my
father worked closely with the great
Clare Fischer, so we had
lots of great musicians coming through our home. I’d accompany my
dad to sessions, soaking up the vibe, and even got to sing on a
Power Rangers clip.” Leigh gravitated toward songwriting at a young
age and has been working diligently at it ever since.
Leigh has
held her own on the exclusive late night jam scene of the session
musician elite at Studio City spots such as Cozy’s, showcased all
over Southern California from Hollywood’s The Knitting Factory to
Santa Monica’s Temple Bar, shared stages with legends such as the
Temptations and
Thelma Houston, and
opened for stars such as
Brian McKnight and John
Legend. That she is an artist with instincts beyond her young
years is also evident in the jazzier standout Quiet Storm album
tracks “Same Game” (on
which – over muted trumpet, brushed drums and reverent organ - she
warns a lover that while he’s out creepin’, she can do the same
things, too) and the galvanizing “Words
You Never Say” (an
eleventh hour love confession of dreamy, celestial wizardry).
Inspired by a
combination of Mariah Carey’s
dynamic vocal gifts, the jazz essence of
Ella Fitzgerald, the
boundary crossing sensibilities of both
Nat and Natalie Cole,
and the burning fire of
Chaka Khan, Leigh Jones is a full-package prodigy of beauty,
talent and drive. Billy
Meshel, a key consultant on the project and the gentleman who
assisted Clive Davis in the founding of Arista Records, states,
“Leigh Jones’ vocal instrument is fantastic! Her style is fluid,
sexy and refreshing…unlike many of the generic songstresses of
today. This young woman is a star!” Seconding that emotion, Kerry
Gordy adds, “Leigh Jones has that ‘It’ factor. She’s cool, she’s
gorgeous and she’s real. Leigh is incredibly talented – a singer’s
singer, a good songwriter and a producer’s dream. I am privileged
and proud that we are partners.”
With
Music in My Soul finally
completed and its release eminent, Leigh can’t wait to hit the road
with her hand-picked band to share her music with the world and make
believers out of more soul fans like she did with legendary former
Stax Records President Al
Bell.
Mr. Bell,
who personally screened every song choice and performance of
Leigh’s before it made the album, observes, “Leigh Jones is an
extremely talented and rare young singer who is uniquely gifted
musically. She blends all of the elements of pop, R&B,
Jazz and Blues, and brings
them all masterfully into the ‘now.’ Throughout my career I have
never seen or heard of anyone like Leigh Jones. She’s authentic
and she can do it all!”
Music In My Soul in
stores August 19th on CD.
For
more information, contact:
J’ai St. Laurent-Smyth, Inque Public Relations - 732.254.0607 /
917.627.9161
inquepr@comcast.net
/
inquepr@gmail.com
www.peakrecords.com
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