John Jewell

US singer, songwriter born 1961, in a small town in Kansas. As a child he experienced the joys of making music around the family piano in the evenings and singing at church on Sunday mornings. At the age of 15 he learned to play the guitar, but his long-cherished dream was still singing and dancing. Therefore, after living in San Francisco with his family for a few years, he decided to try his fortune in Los Angeles. First he worked as a taxi driver, although he was not quite familiar with the city's streets. In parallel, he took up a six month course at the musicians institute of the popular music school in Hollywood,where he enjoyed professor Seth Riggs guidance on both vocal art and the ways to make a career. In less than three years, John Jewell made a name for himself as a gifted singer, capable of creating a repertoire of his own by writing his own songs and lyrics. To keep in shape he practices sports and takes exercises in vocalization twice or three times a day. He claims his style is largely influenced by Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, but he is chiefly concerned with sound. The live sound of his voice is very different from that recorded on tape. He says that is why he usually records his songs several times, until he finds the sound which is closest to the real one.