supersonic
Artist Information
Biography
Early life:
Bassett was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Daniel and Myrna. At 2 years old, Bassett was encouraged by her parents to start singing. She started playing a half-size Lotus guitar at 3,given lessons by her dad, and by the time she was 5, her father was teaching her on his '83 Ibanez Roadstar II. At 8, she played her first competition at the local fair grounds playing Joe Satriani tunes coming in second place. At 9, she began taking singing and guitar lessons at the University of Connecticut music program. From there, she began to learn all she could about guitar. She discovered that she could both tune and play by ear. In addition to study, Desiree’ was listening to blues and rock music from the 50’s through the 90’s, being influenced by artists such as Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Rick Emmett, Jimi Hendrix, Reba McEntire, and The Allman Brothers.
Rising fame:
In 2005, age 12 was major for Desiree'. Bassett was voted Talent America’s Musician of the Year in 2005 in New York City. She was then invited to play on the side stage at Ozzfest in Hartford, CT. At the Ozzfest performance she met Rob Zombie, the Playstation sponsors, The Haunted, and As I Lay Dying. After these successes, Desiree' started playing at open mics around Connecticut with some of the local blues greats and national players, gaining recognition among them. Desiree', at this time, was starting to become well-known in her local area. Bassist Doug Wimbish discovered Desiree' at an open mic in Hartford, Connecticut. Doug invited her to play in his annual Wim-Bash taking place the following night. She was now playing shows in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. She has met and performed alongside Living Colour, Andy Aledort, some members of the Allman Brothers Band, Johnny Vibrato, Pete Scheips Band, and XY Eli Band among others. Desiree’s first recording happened in August 2005 at Pat Keegan Studios in Wallingford, CT. She cut five tracks where she was featured on all instruments. This first effort was a great success as she personally designed the artwork and pressed up and sold several hundred copies of the CD.
On her thirteenth birthday, Desiree' played two important gigs in her young career. The first was an outdoor event at the Meriden Motorcycle Club, where she was seen by several hundred people and stole the show from the headliner. She then played at an outdoor party in her hometown of Ashford, CT, where she was the featured artist. Desiree played for some of the best musicians in the area, some of whom offered their services as band members. In November, Desiree' prepared and presented herself for a showcase at the Hungry Tiger in Manchester, CT. This was a great success because she played for a packed house and came out as a vocalist and band leader. This show also helped her build a local following and established her as a force to be reckoned with on the music scene. In December 2005 she entered the Olympics of Entertainment in N.Y.C. where she was selected as one of 16 finalists out of several hundred. On December 18, 05 , her mother's birthday and with a bad cold and also after tooth extraction, she performed and placed second winning the Silver Medal; being beaten out of first by NBC’s Star Search winner. The days and weeks ahead proved to be very successful for Desiree'. She played gigs in Hartford CT, with Kal David, Andy Aledort, and legendary rockers Living Colour before several hundred screaming fans who couldn’t believe their eyes and ears. After this, she was invited to play at the music industry’s annual 2006 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, where she wins the attention of many famous musicians and picked up her very first endorsement from Peavey. She has also formed her own band, a power trio which she leads called Desiree & The Time Machine, She is very involved in the business end of things. She has made television appearances and done several radio interviews.
At the age of 14, she attended the 2007 Winter NAMM show, and again she performed and made several contacts. She got to meet the likes of Dan Toler, a former member from the Allman Brothers Band, Paul Reid Smith, met Joe Satriani for the second time, Rick Emmett from Triumph, Leslie West from Mountain, and Rudolph Schenkler from the Scorpions. Desiree' was also dubbed the future of rock n’ roll and a wonder kind of kid before 2000 people. During the NAMM show power breakfast, her face appeared on huge television screens on either side of the stage and before a panel of the seven most influential women in the music business today. Desiree' had also been featured in the July issue of Guitar Player Magazine.
At age 15, Desiree' was given the opportunity to sit in with Sammy Hagar,and the Marshall Tucker Band at a benefit Concert in Willimantic, Connecticut, She played with them for almost the entire set. Since that show, she was given some opportunities to play at some locals bars and clubs around the Hartford area. At this age, it was also a very important step, it was the beginning of her very first CD, Power & Force. Several months were put into the project, several days were spent putting down all of the tracks. She was fully prepared with these 12 songs going in the studio with her very own material that was written at age 10 and performed ever since. Also in the process of working on the CD, she was still performing out live at local places, and she got to meet and open for Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie Ray Vaughn's brother, at the Taste of Enfield in Enfield, Connecticut. In the month of August, 2008, she was given one of her biggest opportunities. She was granted the opportunity to meet and play lead guitar for Sammy Hagar and his band at the MGM Grand Foxwoods Casino.
September, 2008 rolled along, and Desiree' was turning 16. She had two birthday parties, one was a party at the Ashford Town Hall with all of her classmates and friends the week before her actual birthday, and then the CD Release/Birthday Bash two days after her birthday located at the Capitol Theater in Willimantic, Connecticut. The CD Release was a major success. Weeks had passed and already the CD was being sent out to radio stations all around the globe. However, although Power & Force had made through as a successful CD, it wasn't exactly perfect, and she was therefore given the opportunity to have it re-mastered by the suggestion of her lawyer Ron Beinstock. From there, he had suggested some top producers, and had mentioned about a producer from Brewster, New York, who goes by the name of Buck Brundage who works for Couch Creative Services, and a producer from Norwalk, Connecticut named Phil Magnotii who works for Silvermine Studios, both of which they work as a team and are three time Grammy Award winners. Also within November of 2008, she also had the chance to open for Rick Derringer at the Slater Museum in Norwich, Connecticut. A few months have passed and Power & Force had taken new heights, and was then considered as the next CD, which was renamed as Power & Force II, which was released in April of 2009. It is different in the sense that two songs were excluded, and it was professionally remixed and re-mastered. Immediately, Power & Force II had taken much greater heights than the first, it had received a full page endorsement ad by CDBaby and it was considered as the best CD they've heard out of the 300,000 they receive through the door every year. And like the first disc, it was being sent out all over the world to fans, radio stations, promoters, etc. On top of this, Desiree' is also a proud member of ASCAP as a writer and composer with several songs listed and copyrighted in the Library of Congress.
After the release of Power & Force II, Desiree' has immediately began working on her third CD. Over the summer, she has also picked up some really important shows such as the opportunity to play at the Wolf's Den at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. There, she was given the honor of playing on the same stage as some of the most famous musicians in history. Within the same month, Desiree' was also given the opportunity to play at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock where she had the privilege to bring up Jimi Hendrix's original percussionist Geraldo Velez and end the night with Jimi's song, Purple Haze, which coincidentally, was the very same song that Geraldo had jammed on with Jimi at Woodstock. Since the Woodstock event, Desiree' has been featured in many newspaper articles, has been publicized on some local TV Shows and radio stations. Also, Desiree' has open up her very own business and record company, Desiree Bassett LLC and works as an independent label ran by her and her father.
At age 17, she had ended the year of 2009, having recorded 14 more original songs for the third CD, and had a stellar closing of the year by throwing it off at the Mohegan Sun Casino to a capacity crowd, performing 3 sets worth of material and also sneaking in a couple of new songs off of the third CD.
And now 2010 has seen Desiree' perform with Ted Nugent 3 times, alongside Devon Allman,BeetleJuice,Vinny Moore,Tony MacAlpine,Uli Jon Roth,Guy Pratt,Johnny Hiland,James Montgomery,Johnny A. and headlining shows as far away as New Zealand.
Desiree' graduated high school and was accepted into Berkley school of music and Westnern Ct. but has chosen to pursue her musical career and put school off for a year pending the release of her new self titled CD "A Bit Above "
Desiree' is currently endorsed by D'Addario/ Planet Waves.
Spring 2011 Desiree' toured with the Boston Legends, Barry Godreau,Jeff"Skunk"Baxter, the Uptown Horns, The Joe Perry Project,Elliott Easton,Gary Hoey and more.
May 2011 Desiree' signs with Cirque Du Soleil as the lead guitarist for the Micheal Jackson Immortal tour for 14 months.
June 2011, Desiree' travels to Florida and headlines 4 shows with Great Southern as her back up band and Dickey Betts as a guest.
Instrumentation
Desiree' Apolonio Bassett - lead guitar and vocals, song writer, role model.
Desiree' has professional rhythm sections backing her, Desiree' & the Time Machine, which consists of Rob Gottfried (Rob the Drummer) and Bob Laramie on bass.
Discography
Desiree' Bassett LLC Recorded at Tree house studios, Longview farms, A. Betts studios, Pat Keegan studios, Audio Media Solutions, Silvermine Studios, Carriage House Studios, Couch Creative Studios
Official Website
Links
Press
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13 yr. old is a singing, guitar sensation
[+ Show ]
you can't mention the name Desiree' Bassett without immediately adding guitarist, composer, AND sing...
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The Coolest Little Guitar Player
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1-4-07 The coolest little guitar player in the country is coming to channel 13 public access for a ...
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Wonderkind Wows Wimbash 2007
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Fourteen yr. old shredder Desiree' Bassett blows the roof off the Anaheim, California in the Hilton ...
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Rocker Girl
July 2007 issue
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14 yr. Old Guitar Sensation
14 yr old guitar sensation will play the 37th annual Milford oyster fest on 18 aug. 2007
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Rocker Chic
Desiree' Bassett appears in GP magizine @ 14 yrs old as a rocker to be recoginized. July 2007
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The Guitarqueen meets the Red Rocker
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SAMMY HAGER HAS A NEW FAVORITE GUITAR PLAYER AFTER MEETING 15 YR. OLD DESIREE' BASSETT AT TH mgm ...
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Power & Force II
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We love your "DESIREE' APOLONIO BASSETT: Power & Force, Vol. II" CD so much that we're going to f...
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A Guitar Legend in the making
[+ Show ]
On the cover, 17 year old guitar goddess Desiree Bassett and her band will perform live at the Mohe...
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Age ain't nothing but a number for this rocker
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If you read Desiree' Bassett's list of influences you would guess she is a woman in her 30's. But...
Setlist
Original music, Whitesnake, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani, Triumph, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Allman Brothers, Van Halen, Santana
we play three forty five minute sets and are constantly working on more originals.
