Chelsea Lee

Who: Chelsea Lee When: 8 p.m. Tuesday Where: Gordon Biersch Brewery, McLean/Tysons

Thursday, May 8, 2008; Page VA18
Northern Virginia native Chelsea Lee has made some fun summer plans -- she'll celebrate her 17th birthday in June, hang out with her friends and family and, oh yeah, perform as the opening act for Pat Benatar at a festival in Loudoun County.
The young singer-songwriter also will be taking the stage at Celebrate Fairfax as well as a few smaller outdoor concert series during a season of regional touring. "I've only gone to Pennsylvania and New York for shows," she said in a phone interview. "I'm trying this summer to do a small tour to a couple of states, just to get the name out."
In the past year, she's played area venues opening for national acts such as Marc Cohn and Stephen Stills.
And Tuesday she'll be the featured performer at Gordon Biersch Brewery.
"I've been there before to eat," Lee said, though she said she had never seen performances there. "I sang last weekend at the Dogfish Head Brewery, so I think it's going to be the same environment." And she'll take it like a pro if the crowd, as diners sometimes do, chatters through her set. "That's what happened last weekend. It's fine. I don't take it personally."
Last year, Lee released her first CD, a self-titled, six-track collection of songs she wrote with musical partner Todd Wright, who also plays with the Pat McGee Band and Getaway Car; and Daniel Brindley, a member of the Luke Brindley Band and owner/talent booker for Jammin' Java.
As the one who sings the songs, Lee needs to relate to the lyrics. "In the beginning, I used to be very scared to say what I thought the lyrics should be," but she said the trio's collaborations evolved quickly. "We first come up with an idea of what the song should be about, and then we'll come up with a melody. I used to write down in a journal random stuff every day, and we would pick through that. We each contribute our own thing and then we say the meaning behind it, why it should be there and how it connects to our original idea."
Even with six recorded songs and recent original material, Lee needs additional songs to fill a show. "We do a lot of covers," she said, "which we're trying to get out of the habit of doing and write some more songs."
Her material includes tracks by the Eurythmics, George Harrison, Counting Crows and the Australian duo the Kin.
"I am learning guitar and piano as we speak," she said. "I'm really mad I didn't learn that earlier, since it would be so much easier to write songs."
Lee is about to finish her junior year at Langley High School, and while she's looking at colleges, "there's been discussion about taking a year off, trying to do as much as possible in that year and then go to college. We're still deciding."
The we in question includes her parents, whom she described as "supporting me 100 percent. I would be nowhere without them."
She said she keeps her grades up to steer clear of parental complaints, "and I do all my chores all the time so they don't yell at me about that."
For all the professionalism inherent in Lee's music, there's a refreshingly unaffected enthusiasm in her approach to her budding career. She cites Corrine Bailey Rae and Patty Griffin as examples of artists she admires, the type who play a lot of shows but don't "get splashed all over the front page."
To market herself, she said, "every weekend I try to friend as many people as I can on MySpace, and a lot of them message me back."
-- MARIANNE MEYER
Washington Post
- Washington Post

The voice is at once weary and wise, saturated with longing and loss. She sings of long-distance love and wishy-washy beaus, declaring with take-it-or-leave-it determination: "This is the way I love." In many ways, acoustic pop singer Chelsea Lee knows not of what she sings -- she is, after all, only 17. But she says imagination can take you far. ¶ Open-mike nights at Jammin' Java in Vienna launched her career. She was 14. Soon, Lee was opening for such artists as Grammy-winning Marc Cohn and Alexa Ray Joel. A sold-out solo show at Jammin' Java and a self-titled EP followed. ¶ Her life in a few words: High school. Guitar lessons. Jam sessions with her musical partner, Todd Wright. Prom. ¶ "It's not like I'm missing a chunk of my high school experience," says the singer-songwriter, who opened for Pat Benatar in June. "But I choose to focus on the music. That's a choice for me, to focus more on what I love." ¶ For now, Lee -- a senior at McLean's Langley High School -- is focused on two divergent paths: contemplating college and meeting with major labels. ¶ "It could go major or minor for me," says Lee, who co-headlines with Kyle Patrick of the Click Five on Sept. 16 at Jammin' Java. "As long as I'm singing. I'm all about the music." - Washington Post

McLean teenager reaches for the stars

Entertainment
By Joel Fowler
Source: Fairfax County Times
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3 2007

"You said you'd marry me, if I was 23

But I'm one that you can't see, if I'm only 18"

These lyrics from the song “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty” seem rather quaint coming from the mouth of its composer, 19-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini. But, when those words spring out from Langley High School junior Chelsea Lee’s booming voice, as they did at her sold-out CD release show at Jammin’ Java on a recent Saturday night, the sentiment is almost ironic. You see, Chelsea just turned 16 in June.

Such is the plight for a major-league aspiring singer with a minor’s age. Yet, according to her parents, trying to find songs that appropriately match her life experience level has always plagued Chelsea.

“As soon as she started talking, she started singing,” states Scott, her proud papa. “I remember one time we went out with friends to a pumpkin patch, and three-year-old Chelsea was just singing all the way back home.”

And the song?

“Nirvana, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’” recalls her mother Jennifer, with the coy grin of a semi-embarrassed parent.

Finding the right tune eventually led Chelsea during the fall of last year to form a songwriting partnership with area musicians Daniel Brindley, co-owner of Jammin’ Java, and Todd Wright, who enjoyed stints with the Pat McGee Band and Getaway Car and now leads Chelsea’s band.

Working for two months in the Lee family’s basement studio, the three created the six songs that comprise Chelsea’s self-titled debut EP, with the first track “So Far” earmarked as a sure-fire alt-pop hit.

“It’s really impossible to be so mature at her age,” exclaims Daniel, who now serves in a management role for Lee. “You can see it in that spark of her performances and her work ethic in songwriting and in the studio. Most young people don’t have it, but with Chelsea, it really comes through. She knows what she’s doing.”

For someone who wants to make a splash in the music business, Chelsea Lee has all of the necessary tools – a clear, concise vocal range, on-stage charisma and presence, an ever-adapting style that blends pop, folk, and soul, and those innocent girl-next-door killer looks. Yet, the most attractive aspect of Lee’s artistic arsenal is her down-to-earth attitude, the kind of "come-what-may" vibe that makes you want to pull for her to succeed.

Like, does she ever get nervous about her future?

“Not really,” explains Chelsea in an interview the day after her CD release show. “I’m taking this one step at a time. Hey, don’t get me wrong; I’d love to do music for the rest of my life, but chances are more likely that it won’t work out than it will. So, we’ll just see what happens.”

This sensible outlook isn’t just some rhetoric fed to a reporter, either. Chelsea follows these values daily. She plays with the same soccer team that she’s been on since she was 12. She makes non-performance weekends completely free of music in order to catch up on schoolwork and hanging out with her friends. She even passed up a huge opportunity that could have jump-started her career.

“We were all set to go to Omaha [Nebraska] to try out for American Idol,” Jennifer recalls of a planned August voyage to stardom. “But, then she realized that if she made it to Hollywood, it would put a real crimp in her junior year, which is critical in terms of preparing for college. In the end, she decided school was more important, so we ended up not going.”

With her support team, Chelsea has a great shot at fame even without a popular reality series’ backing. Her father has suavely developed an Internet-based grassroots marketing plan to maximize exposure at a minimal cost. Her 11-year-old brother Owen manned the merchandise stand at her recent show, where her 94-year-old great-grandmother Ennis came from Tennessee to attend.

As for a domineering presence back-stage a la Joe Simpson, Jessica and Ashley Simpson's father, Chelsea has nothing to worry about.

“Oh gosh,” expels Jennifer, “we’ll never be one of those parents. Chelsea is the one driving this bus.”

Contact the writer at joel_ytic@yahoo.com. - Fairfax Times

Chelsea Lee
Posted by SHAUN KREIDER, For The Patriot-News February 16, 2008 20:36PM
Categories: Music
Kel PhotoChelsea Lee


The Bridges Lounge at the Radisson provided a more subdued tone for the hard of hearing rockers next door.

Kicking off the entertainment at the lounge was youngster singer/songwriter Chelsea Lee.

She proved that big things can come in small packages as her frame betrayed her pipes. A voice like that of a 10-year veteran of the pop game came bounding out of a body that has yet to see college.

Even the cantankerous bartender and middle-aged scotch drinker that conversed between songs mentioned how surprised they were with her vocal abilities.


Looking slightly sheepish this songstress sang of the sensitive struggles of smitten singles

While her sound was that of a straight down the middle chick with guitar, her voice perfected the genre.
- Shaun Kreider, Patriot-News