Jackie Blue

Jackie Blue, a four-piece band from the Motor City, is on top of the world right now, and is going to have a big October, as they plan to play for a huge Charity Event benefiting Detroit Habitat for Humanity on October 30th. The Halloween Masquerade Ball featured the music of Jackie Blue and also art by Jackie Blue’s very own drummer, David Dupuie! - Mark Lush, owner of MidwestBands.com

Jackie Blue's sound is, according to their own bio, "a bombastic combination of Motown soul and funk with the psychedelic feel of the late 60's and 70's'." That about nails it. Carrie, their singer, reminds me of a cuter Janis Joplin or a tougher Grace Slick. Powerful pipes in any case. - Mitch, webmaster of MichiganBands.com

What a tremendous voice Carrie has! - ABC RADIO (WJR), by Frank Beckmenn

"Lady Sings the Blues. The best in classic rock was always that which was derived directly from the blues. Cream. Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath. These bands knew where it was at and they went there. So it is with Jackie Blue.

Formed in Detroit by bassist Tom Libertiny and the since-departed Chip Thomas at the turn of the century, Jackie Blue is neither a person nor a band member. Vocalist Carrie Firth, who joined in 2002 after the departure of both Thomas and then-singer Brent McKay, has her own name, and she likes it very much, thanks.

Having made recent appearances locally at Wild Spirits in NYC and Double D's in Morristown, the Detroit collective are among only a scant few making classic rock true to its heritage. And yeah, Detroit to New Jersey doesn't exactly make them a local band, but they tour, and you have the internet, so it's not like they're inaccessible.

Laid back groves that could open their mouth and swallow you whole are permeated by Ike Turner-esque distortion, all while Firth lays down the cool blues on top. Who could possibly complain about that?"

--by JJ Koczan, The Aquarian, New Jersey
- The Aquarian newspaper, New Jersey

(PRWEB) GoGirlsMusic.com, a national organization for women in rock and Manhattan’s own City Canyons Records present New York's indie event of the year and bring back the magic of yesteryear to storied Bleecker Street when they join together to present some of the finest independent and emerging women artists around. - City Canyons Records

Jackie Blue's song "Help Me Breathe" was Podcast on Michigan State University's "Enlightened Spartan" sports show on March 31, 2005.

Sample: http://www.jackieblue.com/songs/2005march31_msu_podcast_sample.wav - Jackie Blue

Rock band Jackie Blue has a history of giving back to communities, but its April 9th event "The Roaring 20’s Masquerade Ball" is a stretch even by the band's standards.

Combining live music, Roaring 20’s inspired fashion show, audience participation, with great food & drinks, the band aimed to significantly up the stakes in raising funds for charities in this case Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter. But that wasn't enough; to tie the entire show together, the band wrote and will be performing a musical about the history of Detroit during the Roaring 20's entitled: "Life is What You Make of it The story of Nick Fudrich."

The Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball is the second event in a series that started in 2004 with the Halloween Masquerade Ball. This latest event builds on the earlier success and continues with the mission first developed several years ago by Tom Libertiny an art aficionado and member of Libertiny Financial: "Bring together, musicians, artists, creative people, local communities, churches and business folks in order to support local art AND raise funds for worthwhile charities."

For the Roaring 20's Masquerade Ball, Libertiny has partnered with Josefine, owner of Detroit's CatharticMedia who is managing the fashion show. The event will be held at Severance Gallery which has the look and feel of a 1920’s Speakeasy. Brian Heath, a recognized video producer and owner of Splash Media Group, will be shooting a multi-camera video of the entire event for future release on DVD. Rounding out the team is Elaine Greene, Executive Director of Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter, this event's charity.

"All of us on this team have volunteered for a variety of local and national not-for-profits over the years," Libertiny says. "The artist community has done a good job of raising funds for the primary goal of charities, but we struggle to raise a smaller amount of money to keep their full-time operations running. The monthly fluctuation in available funds is very stressful for the hardworking staff and also takes time away from their primary goal."

Because we historically ask venues and artists to not only give of their time, but to do so without any monetary compensation, while most venues and artists agree to help, it's not their number one priority since they like to be able to "eat." Therefore they choose to participate in events that pay them first and we end up with only a few fund raising events per year.

In 2004, the Halloween Masquerade Ball changed all of that by paying both the venue and artists a fair amount of money while raising funds for Habitat for Humanity-Detroit: The combined artistic, community, and business model was proven successful. We’re now focused on doing regular fund raising events throughout North America for worthwhile charities. This will go a long way to giving charities a regular source of money for their ongoing operations
- UCW Entertainment

Woman, you've got a great set of lungs!! I'm not even going to compare you to Melissa Ethridge though I almost wanted to. What the heck, M.E. meets Fiona Apple while being served by Allanah Myles.
- Sara Romano, Garageband.com

I love this band. The girl is a Janis Joplinite without trying to be. She has a voluptuous voice. She's not even trying to be wan and fragile like Dido or Jem. She's rock and roll. - Rev. Billy Jesus, Chicago, Illinois

Great voice. Nice melody. Well mixed. Great bass tone. I am sure you have heard Heart mentioned once or twice...the chorus melody. Killer solo. Really...love a good wah player...
- SunGoneNovea, Eagleville, Pennsylvania