Album Notes

Mariel Grande is a contemporary jazz singer/songwriter from a lovely small town in the South of Poland. From a very early age Mariel was passionate about singing and would happily sing her little heart out for hours at a time. She dreamed that one day she would become an international recording star. Whilst at secondary school she gained a reputation as a rock chick when she was the singer in a pop/rock band playing covers of songs by Polish artists like Bajm, Urszula and Various Manx. Funnily enough Mariel bears a passing resemblance to a very young Beata Kozidrak, the lead singer of Bajm. Her idols at the time were Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Edyta Gorniak, she greatly admired their vocal styles. During this time she was also taking singing lessons and performing at local events.

Mariel later moved to Krakow to study International Relations at the university there. Krakow is one of the major cities in Poland and has a rich historical heritage. Mariel would enter this monthly competition at a student cultural centre called Rotunda. The name of this competition was Everybody Can Sing and the panel of judges consisted of local artists and staff from Radio Krakow. This proved to be a major turning point in her career when one of her songs Sto Con Te sung in Italian (I'm With You) was played on the airwaves in 2002. Mariel recorded this song with her friend Sebastian Perlowski who wrote the music while the words were written by Mariel herself.
Whilst attending university Mariel was also taking acting and vocal lessons. She continued to be actively involved in the musical and artistic side of life in Poland.

After graduating from university Mariel moved to London in 2003. This was a hard and tearful decision for her to make, leaving behind her family and friends to start a new life abroad. Perhaps there is something to be said about being young and having a sense of adventure. Anyway this sacrifice was necessary if she was to succeed in a very competitive field such as the music industry. She chose the highly cosmopolitan city of London because it has a very vibrant music scene and attracted talent from around the world like a magnet. In the beginning it was lonely and hard adjusting to her new life in a foreign land, as she soon found out the streets of this famous capital city were not paved with gold. Compared to Poland London was a very expensive place to live. Mariel had a number of odd jobs to make ends meet like waitressing, cinema usher and office work. In between she would sing whenever she got the chance. Sometimes she sang for the senior citizens in day care centres. They would be most appreciative when she performed jazz standards like "The Lady is a Tramp" and "Fly Me To the Moon" because these songs reminded them of their youth. She regularly attended auditions and entered competitions in the hope that she would get noticed. Despite the harsh realities of numerous rejections and setbacks, Mariel remained resilient. It would have been all too easy for her to pack her bags and go home, she was determined to give it her best shot and concentrate on perfecting her craft.

Mariel used her hard earned savings to enrol on a singing course at the Vocal Tech and continued her music studies at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in Kilburn. She was beginning to find her true voice as she found that her unique vocals were best suited for jazz. She discovered that she had a natural talent for songwriting. Through networking she got to collaborate with other musicians/writers on numerous projects and learnt from other people in the music business. All this experience was very valid and inspiring. As well as writing songs, she wanted to write music as well and learnt to play both the piano and the guitar. With these new skills Mariel would regularly perform covers and her own self-penned material at charity events, local clubs, pubs and open mics. In 2007 she auditioned for a record company called AMR and got a management contract from them. She finally felt that she was getting one step closer to her dream because someone out there had finally spotted her talent. However Mariel chose to terminate that contract after a few months because she was not happy with the arrangements.

Nothing in this life comes easy but Mariel was determined as ever to put in the hard graft, raise the necessary funds and set up her own record label. She wrote and arranged all her own material with the help of a brilliant producer Luke Henderson. This year she released her debut album 3 Bottles of Champagne which contains some jazzy tracks like Little Rosie Heart and On the Beach in Half Moon Bay. There are also some fine ballads on there like the heartbreaking Please Stay and The Magic is Gone. For anyone that has been lucky enough to see Mariel perform live you will not be disappointed as she takes you on a journey with these songs. You will laugh, you will cry. Her voice so movingly conveys the emotions that will touch your very heart and soul. She is at her loveliest and at her best when she is playing the grand piano, an instrument that she was simply born to play. She certainly knows how to capture the imagination of the audience with her European charm and sophistication. Mariel is currently promoting her new album and has recently been featured on the NuTalent slot on NuSound Radio London.


By Mary Jackson Li