A desire to use her voice like an instrument, embracing the styles of Jazz, Blues, Pop and Classical, is what has led New Orleans born Leslie Clemmons to a versatile and successful music career.
Leslie has carved out her own niche from youth to adulthood, and she did it on her terms. Using rich experiences from singing in High School and church choirs in New Orleans, LA, to traveling and performing in North America and Europe with various regional theater companies, to doing a national tour of the Broadway production of Les Miserables, she has taken all of this and put it into her God given craft of song writing and recording.
Releasing “Stop The World” her debut CD in 2004, Leslie began a schedule of nightclub performances in New York City and eventually around the country, supported by a national commercial and noncommercial radio campaign. During her tour she continued to write songs, and after a life threatening kidney disease in January 2005 brought her dangerously close to quitting for good, she decided to keep fighting for her life and her career.
It was then, during her seven months of recovery, that she decided to embrace non-conventional treatment for her disease and her music. She was working on her sophomore CD, “Waiting for My Conviction”, and before she new it her sound was becoming more and more Noncommercial (in a radio format sense). Having already decided that Major labels were not for her (“Stop The World” was put out by her husband’s Indie Label, Verdict Records) she wrote and sang completely from the heart. The result was brilliance.
As more tragedy ensued, with her family part of the now infamous Hurricane Katrina evacuation, and now rebuilding of New Orleans, “Waiting for My Conviction” is a cathartic walk through the pain and tragedy of life and the human will to survive and cling to the good and the hope of a better future. Musically, Leslie and her producer/co-writer/husband got back to her New Orleans roots and realized just how much her youth in New Orleans had influenced her life and her music.
Leslie Clemmons’ Sophomore CD “Waiting for My Conviction” is set to be released on March 28th, 2006.
_____
Singer/Songwriter Leslie Clemmons Releases Sophomore Album: Waiting for My Conviction
If you hear just one of Leslie Clemmons’ songs, you might draw a comparison to Alanis Morissette. Hear another song, and you might think Norah Jones or Sheryl Crow. Just what does Leslie Clemmons sound like? She sounds beautiful, and whether she sings soft over delicate keys or rocks with electric guitar, Leslie Clemmons is one of the most versatile and talented singers in the modern music scene. With the release of her sophomore album, “Waiting for My Conviction,” Leslie is making her presence heard and felt.
Leslie Clemmons is one of those rare artists who seem comfortable performing almost any kind of music. She is as much a torch singer as she is a pop star and she handles her compositions with skill and grace. “My music is like my hometown, New Orleans,” Says Clemmons, “with many influences, moods, and inflections. My songs basically support my need to be a storyteller.” Clemmons music succeeds in creating a lyrical narrative as she sings about love and sadness and New Orleans.
Clemmons received critical acclaim for her first collection of songs “Stop the World,” which made a successful run on triple a radio across the country. When she returned to the studio with co-writer/producer/husband Rod Clemmons to record “Waiting for My Conviction,” Leslie had developed as an artist and her new collection shows added maturity and skill with composition.
“Waiting for my Conviction,” contains many standout tracks ranging from jazzy pop to pure ballads. On “Wishes and Why’s,” Leslies voice hovers over a sparse piano line. The song is a passionate plea, about understanding our place in the world, and the effective combination of jazz piano and Leslie’s voice gives the song a life of its own. On “Know One Thing,” Clemmons takes a different approach, singing a lighthearted love song over guitar and funky bass. The song picks up speed on the second verse and sounds like the perfect atmosphere for a country bar. Changing gears again with the sultry jazz standard “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans,” Clemmons sounds like a mix of Peggy Lee and Norah Jones as she sings over warm acoustic guitar.
Leslie Clemmons is a New Orleans performer who has the skill to carry her sexy, emotional, and skillful songs to the rest of the country. With the flavor of the south, the moxy of New York City, and maturity beyond her years, Leslie Clemmons is more than the flavor of the week. In fact, her flavor changes with every song but always remains easy to connect with and a pleasure to the ear.
“My favorite thing is to play to an intimate audience and to connect with them,” She says, “I take home a little of them and they take home a little of me.” Whether playing a small club or an amphitheater, it is unlikely that an audience can walk away from Leslie Clemmons without feeling the music. “I just try to give my songs a voice,” Leslie muses, “and I always try to sing from the heart.”
Read more...