Melissa Suzanne

What a pleasing tone and texture your voice has... The lead vocals are drenched in emotion and sang with
confidence. Girl you can sing! Dammmmmn, you can sing. No doubt about that. Not a falter in pitch
and emotion-drenched vocal delivery.
- -Atlanta, Georgia (garageband.com)

Intro grabbed me from the start. I could hear it in a Disney Film! The Lead vocal... WOW! So sweet and breathy, until the Chorus and then WOW again. This girl can sing big!
Band is very good, bass very solid. The string/key arrangement really shines. - - Dallas, Texas (garageband.com)

Strong vocal, great voice! Overall, a
well executed, slickly arranged, dynamic, great sound! VERY WELL DONE! I'm hearing early Whitney
Houston with a more restrained, tasteful delivery. Great song!
- -Broomfield, Colorado (garageband.com)

Now this is a well done work here: great music, great lyrics, great hook, great vocals. I can tell this singer has been around a few studios and stages before. Get her a deal and provide her with the best producers/songwriters in
the biz, and she could go far. Great voice!!! - -Los Angeles (garageband.com)

Melissa Suzanne is ready to release her debut album after recently winning an online singing contest.
By AMANDA GLOWISH
STAFF WRITER
Comments 0 | Recommend 0

MISSION VIEJO – As a teen, Melissa Suzanne made a deal that one day she would become a singer.

Her voice developed quickly, and she felt she could make a career out of it.

“I made a deal with the universe,” she said.

Suzanne, a graduate of Santa Margarita Catholic High School, is on the verge of closing that deal. She recently won $10,000 in the R&B category on www.famecast.com, an online singing contest. Her debut album is expected out this summer, and she hopes to go on tour soon after.

The dark-haired, blue-eyed singer considers her music to have a soulful pop sound.

“I’m really not an R&B singer. I am a pop singer, but I am not a pop singer the way people think pop sounds,” Suzanne said. ”I am the way pop used to be in the ‘80s. I have been very strongly influenced by soul music.”

Suzanne attended UCLA, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology. But she always knew she would return to her passion.

“Once I made my deal with the universe, I absolutely knew this is what I am supposed to do,” she said.

In 2004, she followed a premonition and traveled to Italy. While living there for about one year, she recorded a number of songs she had written. After returning to California, she began posting her music online.

That’s where producer Kevin Flournoy found her. Flournoy, who has been a keyboardist for Gladys Knight, The Pointer Sisters, Ronnie Laws and Donny Osmond, knew Suzanne from her younger years, and they have been recording her album for the past year.

“With the strength of her voice, her career is limitless,” said Flournoy, president of Flournoy Entertainment. “I see her as being a phenomenon.”

For more on the artist, visit www.melissasuzanne.com. - Orange County Register

I love your vocal style. I see this song on all types of charts appealing to not just R & B fans but all genres, pop, jazz and soul, even old school. The vocalist is such a powerful singer, passionate, loving, caring and determined. The backgrounds are an awesome blend. This track is just so right on every level. I can't say enough about the vocals. 2 THUMBS UP, 5 stars from me! - Detroit, Michigan (garageband.com)

Listening to the powerful songs on her forthcoming debut album, it’s hard to believe that Melissa Suzanne hasn’t always had the kind of soulful voice that makes heads turn.

In fact, it wasn’t until Suzanne’s back-to-back Spring Sing wins at UCLA in 1998 and 1999 that she even decided that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Growing up in southern Orange County, with an awkward voice and no exposure to any music outside of conventional radio, Suzanne would have never envisioned herself working with top-of-the-line R&B and hip-hop musicians while playing to sold-out crowds.

But on Saturday night, Suzanne will perform to what’s expected to be an over-capacity audience at Hollywood’s Genghis Cohen. It may not be the largest venue in Los Angeles, but for the newly ambitious Suzanne, it’s another step on the road to a successful career in the music business.

With a voice that never really stood out until she entered high school, Suzanne never considered music as an option for herself. Even during her time at UCLA, she studied sociology and communications and only dabbled in music as a hobby.

“I never stood out as a singer as a youngster. I absolutely never thought I would go far with singing because until I was about 14, I couldn’t even really hold a tune,” Suzanne said. “But by the time I became comfortable with my voice in my teenage years, I started to really excel in music – it was all kind of out of nowhere.”

But emerging with a great voice presented larger problems for Suzanne, as she then became challenged by racial expectations that mere vocal talents couldn’t easily overcome.

“When I first started recording, I was always getting the same kind of criticism: ‘You’re a white girl but you sure don’t sound very white.’ A lot of producers and record labels just didn’t know what to do with me because they didn’t know how to market something that was soulful and Motown-poppy coming out of a white girl,” Suzanne said.

This initial disappointment caused Suzanne to take a break from music during her college years, as she entered UCLA with no intentions to continue recording music. However, she couldn’t entirely abandon her passion and immediately started taking advantage of several opportunities to demonstrate her skills as a singer.

“The more I got into things like Spring Sing and singing at the athletic games, the more I got a positive response from people,” Suzanne said. “When people started going bananas after I sang the national anthem, they made me realize that what I really needed and wanted to do was get back to my music. I was getting such good feedback from everyone at school that I thought, ‘Well, I must be doing something right.’”

Ignoring what music industry professionals told her previously, Suzanne joined the gospel choir at UCLA and continued to pursue the styles of music she loves because of her confidence in her ability to change minds.

“I was in the UCLA gospel choir for four years and I was the only white girl in there, leading the whole thing,” Suzanne said. “I don’t know where it came from because I grew up in the whitest of the white families in Orange County but I am so grateful that somewhere inside of me, there is this capacity to sing the kind of music that I love, and I know that if somebody wants to doubt my ability to sing a soulful song because of the color of my skin, I can change their opinion after just three opening notes.”

Suzanne recalls going to a live taping of the Vibe show during her college years, during which her friends pushed her onstage before the show to showcase her remarkable voice.

“A lot of the audience there were inner-city black kids and I could hear them saying, ‘What does this white girl think she’s gonna do?’ and even the host of the show was skeptical when I told him my talent was singing. But I just started singing ‘I’ll Be There’ by the Jackson 5 and halfway through the song, the house band joined me onstage, people were up on their feet, and the whole crowd was screaming and dancing,” Suzanne said.

“Nobody there expected my voice to come out the way it did and when it did, I literally saw people’s jaws drop from shock.”

Always being met with initial uncertainty didn’t stop Suzanne’s enthusiasm as she returned to the studio after graduating. It was just a matter of finding the right producers and musicians to accept her somewhat unconventional style. After some independent work, she came in contact with record producer Kevin “K Flow” Flournoy, who has previously worked with the Pointer Sisters and Gladys Knight.

Along with Flournoy and a slew of professional musicians, who have collectively worked with legends like Stevie Wonder, Prince, Luther Vandross and Celine Dion, Suzanne has been busy finalizing her self-titled debut album.

“I think anybody, regardless of gender or race or whatever, can expect to find something they like on my album because it is all real music. It’s all recorded live, nothing is synthesized, I’m really singing and people are really playing – what you hear is exactly what’s going on right there in the studio,” Suzanne said.

As for her musical career after the release of this album, Suzanne has only positive aspirations for continued success.

“My desire is to have a long career in music. I want to always stay a classy artist who always has a level of quality while also having a sound that is contemporary,” Suzanne said.

“I absolutely expect No. 1 record sales, world tours and the whole thing. In the next few years, I want to be working with the best and creating the best – and I can see myself there now.”
- UCLA Daily Bruin

Melissa Suzanne has been recording and singing professionally since the age of 13. She has over 15 years of professional experience in voice, acting, musical theater and dance. She just completed a new - Inspirationally Unplugged CD -, available for purchase mid March. Additionally, Melissa is gaining exposure on the big screen in both feature films and Primetime television. She has been featured on several established and new series debuting this fall including “Samantha Who?” starring Christina Applegate, “ER”, “House,” and “Women’s Murder Club” with Angie Harmon to name a few.

Melissa enjoys many different types of music but has been most strongly influenced by contemporary R & B, Soul, Motown music, and the amazing talents of singers Donny Hathaway, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder. Some of her other favorite artists include: Maxwell, Musiq Soulchild, James Ingram, Michael MacDonald, Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson, Elliott Yamin, Eric Benet, Michael Bolton, Luther Vandross, Kelly Clarkson, Otis Redding, Billy Joel, Brian McKnight, Gavin Degraw, Coldplay, Celine Dion, Robin Thicke, Amos Lee, Jagged Edge, Usher, Jodeci/ KC and Jojo, Justin Timberlake, India Arie, Boyz II Men, Pink and Michael Buble.

Most recently, she worked with Kevin Flournoy on her highly anticipated first album. Kevin has been in the industry for nearly 20 years as a professional pianist for such legendary acts as Gladys Knight, The Pointer Sisters, and Donny Osmond. She also worked with well-known celebrity vocal coach Doc Holliday (Making the Band 3) during her vocal recording sessions for her debut album at Westlake Studios in Hollywood. There are many acclaimed musicians that played on the demo album, some of which include Kat Dyson (Prince, Cyndi Lauper), Alex Al (Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross), Michael Ripoll (Kirk Whalum, Yolanda Adams), Morris O’Connor (Stevie Wonder, Teena Marie), Frank Vilardi (Celine Dion,Rod Stewart), and several members of the Seattle Symphony. - Gary Draper(http://www.rocktheblues.com/news/?p=596)

FameCast concluded its first season with the fans crowning the first ever FameCast Fenoms. The six grand prize winners across each of the six stages took home $10,000 each and gained global exposure during the four month competition. Each of the Fenoms will be immortalized as the first ever winners in the Hall of FameCast.

Austin, TX (Billboard Publicity Wire/PRWEB ) April 24, 2007 -- FameCast the first online competition designed to find America's best new artists, concluded its first season with the fans crowning the first ever FameCast Fenoms. The six grand prize winners across each of the six stages took home $10,000 each and gained global exposure during the four month competition. Each of the Fenoms will be immortalized as the first ever winners in the Hall of FameCast. During the final week of competition fans from around the world cast their votes for their favorite artists across the six stages.

The FameCast Fenoms on each of the six stages are:
o Stage 1: Pop - Angela Carnegie, Pearl River, New York
o Stage 2: Rock - Pushmonkey. Austin, Texas
o Stage 3: R&B - Melissa Suzanne, Los Angeles, California
o Stage 4: Country - Eric Michael Hopper, Buford, Georgia
o Stage 5: Hip Hop - Round Table Union, San Antonio, Texas
o Stage 6: Comedy - Stuart Swanson, Oceanside, California

The Season One competition was fierce and it came down to the last minute with the fans picking who they felt was the best talent
Each of the FameCast Fenoms has the talent to make it in the big leagues and now through their experience on FameCast, they have the tools, fan-base and exposure to truly be America's next big stars.
"The Season One competition was fierce and it came down to the last minute with the fans picking who they felt was the best talent," said Kent Savage, Founder and CEO of FameCast. "Each of the FameCast Fenoms has the talent to make it in the big leagues and now through their experience on FameCast, they have the tools, fan-base and exposure to truly be America's next big stars."

Currently, FameCast is accepting performance submissions for Season Two of its nationwide online competition. Season Two adds six news stages for a total of 12, including Metal, Spoken Word, Singer/Song Writer, Dance, Animation and Short Film. With a total of 12 stages that now means a total of 12 FameCast Fenoms and 12 grand prizes, each worth $10,000.

FameCast is an online artist discovery and entertainment community providing a nationwide, seasonal competition whereby an online audience determines tomorrow's big stars. FameCast was founded to showcase legitimate artists who have yet to be discovered and whom the audience deems to be worthy of stardom. The FameCast online competition and community will provide contestants the ability to connect with and grow a national audience and compete to become a FameCast Fēnom and win the grand prize worth $10,000 and global exposure.

About FameCast
Born in Austin, TX, the Live Music Capital of the World, FameCast is the first online artist discovery and entertainment community providing a nationwide, seasonal competition whereby an online audience determines tomorrow's big stars. Knowing that lack of exposure is what keeps some of our best artists in the shadows, we aim to shine the spotlight on those that have what it takes, but have lacked the breaks. For more information visit www.famecast.com. - Billboard Publicity Wird