Angela grew up in a household filled with music, either performed by her father on their upright piano or played on the stereo. She recounts, “As a preschooler, my teacher asked me what my favorite TV program was, and I surprised her by saying, 'I don't have a TV, but I like listening to classical music with my dad.'" "The apartment was small enough that nobody could not be a part of it, so it was natural to make her like music," explains Angela’s father, Rich Crandall. "With her mom being out of town for three- to four-day trips [working as a flight attendant], I would take her to my jazz rehearsals.”
"I sang with Dad in public for the first time when I was three years old," recalls Angela. "The minister saw me singing after one of Dad’s gigs at Unity Church in Honolulu, and wanted both of us to perform the next time Dad played at the church. So a couple weeks later we did a jazz version of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game, both of us wearing baseball caps."
Under her father’s casual instruction, Angela continued developing her love and ear for music. But it wasn’t until the third-grade that she got her first steady “gig.” “Dad started a weekly jazz jam concert for music-lovers. By performing in front of an attentive jazz audience with experienced ears, I developed both a repertoire and stage presence. Not only that, I was privileged to sing alongside the city’s best professional jazz musicians including Gabe Baltazar, Noel Okimoto, Darryl Pellegrini, and Bruce Hamada, as well as out-of-town guests like Rufus Reid, and Eric Miyashiro. The Studio 6 sessions continued for ten years until Angela’s senior year of high school at the University Laboratory School.
This budding artist now resides in Washington, DC where she studies international environmental affairs with a concentration in development at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She continues to pursue her interest in music by singing with the university’s jazz band as well as in smaller combo groups. Her set list now spans well beyond her initial ball game days, with personal favorites, “Sophisticated Lady” and “You Must Believe in Spring” as examples from a repertoire of almost 120 songs.
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