Melissa Lauren

Melissa Lauren is an accomplished young singer making her mark in the Toronto music scene in Canada. With a strong influence in jazz, latin, and blues, Melissa has developed an original style of her own melting together old school sounds with modern flare. In 2005, Melissa released her debut CD, an upbeat offering of jazz standards and swinging arrangements of the classics that helped shape her musical tastes. “The Truth is “Darn that Dream”, “They Say it’s Spring”, and “Them There Eyes” are beautifully crafted little works of art.” Lynn McDonald, Producer and Vocalist. Melissa was fortunate enough to have her first CD played on radio stations JazzFM 91.1, and CBC radio. A graduate of York University’s music program, Melissa began studying voice at the age of twelve and discovered her passion performance. She has had the privilege of studying with some of Toronto’s most respected musicians including Barry Elmes, Mark Eisenman, and Al Henderson. Melissa’s love for swing and jazz music started when she started performing with the Toronto All-Star Big Band; she continued singing with them until 2004. She had the opportunity to work with and open for many wonderful musicians; Jeff Healey, Gordon Lightfoot, Ranee Lee, Henry Questa, Tommy Ambrose, Peter Appleyard, Buddy DiFranco, Jackie Richardson, and Clark Terry to name a few. After releasing her first solo CD, Melissa had the opportunity to sing at Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival in the Summer of 2006 as well as the Beaches Parti Gras Festival, and since then has been immersing herself in the Toronto music scene. She has been playing regularly at venues such as “Trane Studios” “Ten Feet Tall”, “Jacobs & Co., “Annabella Lounge”, and most recently, “Statlers on Church”. She has also added song writing to her list of talents and is eager to get into the studio to record her second album of originals. Her latest demo combines the styles that influenced her taste with some more modern pop sensibilities. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.