Juno Award winning singer and composer Kellylee offers a distinctly recognizable sound on her brand new, five-song EP, GREENLIGHT.
It is the sound of resilience.
While we've all been in survivor mode for the better part of the pandemic, it's been particularly trying for the talented Ottawa-based jazz ingenue: Kellylee was still in the throes of recuperating - literally - from a bizarre accident where she was struck by lightning.
Just as she was getting back into her groove in March 2020 - even performing a concert in Paris, France just before COVID-19 shut down the world.
But that didn't stop her, nor her creativity. With the assistance of co-producer, multi-instrumentalist and backing vocalist Michael Shand, drummer Ian Wright, and bass player Mark Godfrey, Kellylee has magically woven her first tapestry of new music since 2015's Come On, her inspired versatility delivering raw connective emotion connectivity on such gems as the jazzy mental health anthem "Not Today," the soulful "Greenlight" and the revealing "Everything."
"It was time," she states. "I missed writing and I missed making things. I wanted to make music and write about what was happening in my life."
Recorded during lockdown via video while everyone was in isolation, Kellylee offers glimpses of vulnerability on GREENLIGHT that have been commonplace and universal for all of us during these strange times.
"Some of the songs I'm singing about are about mental health and supporting people in those moments," she explains. "A lot of it is about my own life."
It's a life to which others can relate, a gift that Kellylee realized she possessed when she wrote her very first song prior to the days of 2006's fight or flight?
"I love making music that connects," says Kellylee. "When I wrote my first song, somebody asked me how I managed to capture what they felt. That really hit me: I knew I had a voice, a platform and ideas that are so personal that people see themselves in my music.
"That means a lot to me. I feel blessed that I have that ability and that it's not completely gone. Writing these new songs, I was shocked at how easy it came back."
Over the past 15 years, Kellylee has been winning over audiences with forays into jazz, R&B, hip-hop, pop and a Juno-award winning tribute to Nina Simone simply entitled Nina.
And the good news is that with GREENLIGHT, this electrifying performer, whose masterful and majestic vocalizing and stage mannerism leaves audiences spellbound, is back.
The words of Michael Shand, who provided trumpet, keyboards, guitar, vocals and fleshed out the arrangement, say it best:
"It's just refreshing to hear newly written music from Kellylee, because she brings such an honesty and purity to everything that she does."
Amen to that.



HIGHLIGHTS:

Awards and Recognition:
2018 Juno Award Nomination - Vocal Jazz Album of the Year - Come On
2014 Black Canadian Award - Best Jazz Artist
2014 Canadian Screen Award Nomination - Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series
2011 Juno Award - Vocal Jazz Album of the Year - Nina
2009 Juno Award - Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year - Embracing Voices (with Jane Bunnett)
2007 Juno Award Nomination - Vocal Jazz Album of the Year - fight or flight?
2007 Gemini Award Nomination - Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series
2007 Canadian Smooth Jazz Award - Female Vocalist of the Year
2006 Barnes and Noble Discover New Artist selected release
2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition - 2nd Place

Noted Opening Slots/Shared Stages:
Erykah Badu, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Chris Botti, Dee Dee Bridgewater, C2C, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Hugh Masekela, Willie Nelson, Dianne Reeves, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Wayne Shorter, Derek Trucks.