Introducing… Jessica Rhodes

Jessica Rhodes

If soulfully-inclined pop with real, not ersatz emotion sounds like your cup of tea, then look out for this woman…

Name: Jessica Rhodes

Age: 26

Location: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

Style: “I like to think of it as our own raw brand of soul.”

Look out for: Her debut single, Who You Are, which is out now

If you’re a fan of Amy Winehouse, Emeli Sande or Adele, then one up-and-coming artist you need to look out for is Jessica Rhodes. Accessible enough for mainstream radio play yet with enough of a raw funk/soul edge to find its way into the collections of more discerning buyers too, Jessica’s music has the potential to go all the way. And the fact she and her band have already “played ahead of” the likes of ELO, Simply Red, Mumford & Sons and The Corrs certainly won’t damage their chances of getting there!

Born in Scotland, raised in Stratford, Jessica was “singing before I could even talk properly”, and took piano lessons from the age of six. Music took a back seat while she got her degree in maths and philosophy but then, she says, “I came back down to the Midlands and met up with some old school friends who were having really good fun in a band. So I joined their band, and then it became my band.”

And that band is still at the centre of everything she does. “Really it’s me and a bunch of guys who are awesome musicians,” she says. “Me and our guitarist do the songwriting, but we took a group decision to put me at the front, because right now there seems to be an appetite for female artists. So we thought, scrap the band idea, let’s focus on a female artist but keep the live band element.”

The strategy seems to be paying off, with Jessica’s music having picked up quite a lot of BBC airplay already. And then there’s those “playing ahead of” slots… “We’ve been really lucky,” explains Jessica, “because a friend of a friend does event management for the Genting Arena live stage, which is in the Box Office area before you get to the main arena. So during the hour we have, you’ll get 15,000 people walking through, and probably about 3,000 of them will stop and listen. The exposure’s fantastic, and we’ve had a great night every time.”

So what’s next? “We’re releasing another single towards the end of the year, and then following that up with an album in 2017. I’ve always thought overloading people with a full album from the start, when they don’t know who you are or what you’re about, isn’t the best idea. Slow and steady does it!”

Wise words, but all the same, let’s hope Jessica doesn’t take too long with the album. We’re rather looking forward to it…

You can see the video for Who You Are below. To find out more about Jessica, find her on Facebook and Soundcloud, or visit her website

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