Nessa Morgan
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Nessa Morgan

| INDIE

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Band R&B Blues

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The best kept secret in music

Press


"NESSA MORGAN"

Fresh and in your face 'dirty soul' is the new, sexy style of Wellington born, Nessa Morgan. Without exaggeration, Nessa Morgan has the ability of Alicia Keys, the attitude of Missy Elliot and the visionary storytelling of Lauren Hill. Big wraps, but this girl is the real deal. Sex & Poverty is unpolished and proud of it. Recorded live over two sessions at the famous House of Blues in LA with little production and a focus on her powerful voice, the end result is a gritty, raw, so close you can almost touch it, taste it, sort of sound. Morgan's one0on0one personal style of telling stories of struggle (to make do, to have a good time, to get laid) is undiluted and feels real, like you are there. It's My Rite is a highlight, getting down and dirty with funy-as, bubbling bass lines of the like that you would expect from Soul Train. Fortunately the groove is not lost on slower, piano-based 'for the sisters' diva-ish numbers like "I'm Sorry" and "Lot to Learn", but they don't have the same impact as when she sings with attitude, full of hoos and ha's like on soulful opening track 'Nothing but Love". Nathan Cavaleri makes a guestg appearance on track three, "Happy Day", one of many talented musicians with a lot of time for Nessa Morgan, the next big thing in R&B. JAMES RIDLEY - Drum Media


"SOUL DIVA NESSA SPEAKS HER MIND"

A rising new music star with something to say? They are a rare breed these days with homogenised pop stars taking a cue from Kylie Minogue’s script which involves talking a lot but saying nothing.
Emerging soul diva Nessa Morgan is a breath of fresh air with her candour and boundless enthusiasm.
Both on the record – her stunning debut album, Sex & Poverty – and offstage, Morgan has plenty to say, which is no surprise considering her peripatetic upbringing.
The child of musician parents, 26-year-old Morgan was enlisted into the family business whicih brought them from Wellington to Kings Cross, Bondi and then Newcastle.
When she announced she wanted to go solo a couple of years ago, her father was less than impressed. At first they weren’t too happy about it,” she says.
“They felt it was a betrayal, but I wanted more,” she says.
“But now they have heard my music, they understand.
“Dad was worried about me getting ripped off by the industry – he had always done things his way and still does.”
At first, Morgan set out to be a songwriter, doubtful anyone would give her a deal because she didn’t fit the teen pop-princess mould.
“The industry says that if you are over 21 and you’re starting out, your use-by date is up,” she says.
“Everyone is signing teens so I reckoned I would write songs for someone else to sing.
“I wrote 100 songs and my manager encouraged me to sing them myself.
“The songs were all about me or my friends and family or my love life so it made sense for me to sing them.”
Morgan is a songwriter with the gift of making tales about everyday life sound like a full-scale drama.
Can’t pay the bills and your car has broken down? Then listen to Stuck, Every Day is Hard or Woman’s Work.
Cringing from that one-night stand or romanticising that holiday romance? Will Be and Foreign Affair take you right back to those moments.
- Daily Telegraph, Kathy McCabe


"HOT SOUL"

Australia isn’t renowned as a hotbed of female soul/R&B talent, but the sheer confidence of Nessa Morgan’s debut album suggests that’s changing. Built around lazy drum and bass grooves, tracks such as ‘Happy Day’ and ‘Woman’s Work’ have an emotional sincerity that goes straight to the heart.

- MARIE CLAIRE, Richard Jinman


"SOUL FIRE BURNING"

Nessa Morgan is giving her first ever press interview. "I'm nervous," she squeals. "I can sing a chorus, but talk about it, oh!" She's going to have to get used to it. Not even Nessa is prepared for where her music is about to take her.
She's Australia's answer to every sultry soul singer the US has produced. Her voice, her grooves, her style, her attitude - this woman is going to stun the country, and probably the rest of the world as well.
Her first serious performance was only several weeks ago, at the Byron Bay Bluesfest, where she showcased songs from her forthcoming album "Sex and Poverty". Wait until radio gets a hold of these tunes. You mightn't know her now, but in several months you won't be able to get her music out of her head.
Strange that music can be so fresh and original, yet simultaneously borrrowed and influenced. Morgan's sounds are striaght from the vaults of Motown, yet she almost convinces us that she invented them.
The project was overseen by famed US producer Don Was, whose previous clients include Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Joe Cocker, Jackson Browne, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Iggy Pop...get the picture?
- COURIER MAIL, Joel Dullroy


"CD REVIEW"


In the vein of the current swath of soul revisionists, Nessa Morgan gives us a fairly original take on the genre, which has always been misconceived in the market place. The songs and production on Sex & Poverty make for an incandescent recording of substance and style….Nessa is a killer singer with a hell of a cool approach. Together with some serious players, such as Diesel and Don Walker, this album is allowed to breathe and shine.

Sex & Poverty is more exciting to listen to than the overrated Joss Stone who, fortunately for her, has TV advertising behind her. Tracks like Happy Day sit on wonderfully laid back feels and top notch playing. There are moments reminiscent of either George Benson or maybe Jamiroquai on one of the best tracks, Stuck, a simple groove with a pulsating vocal.

Recorded in the States means that the grooves sound authentic. This is the album that Christine Anu or even Tina Harrod should have made. It sounds international and has enough sass to get throught the bottom of the charts by sheer talent. Being produced by Don Was can only help on a first major release.

…Nessa really sounds amazing on tracks like the Al Green stylised Foreign Affair. It’s an incredible voice that carries these songs whether it’s on the modern tinged tunes like Nothing but Love or on the rootsy blues of Woman’s Work which is just a killer of a track, and no it’s not a cover of Kate Bush’s ballad.

This is an album that cannot go without international recognition. It’s a tour de force of soul with a gritty real life feel to it. Sex & Poverty are two things the soul needs to experience.
- THE DRUM, Sebastian Skeet


"LIVE REVIEW"


Then there was the long awaited Nessa Morgan, fresh from her trip to Byron Bay at the recent Blues & Roots Festival. It seems she has developed quite a cult following in Sydney as the room was wall to wall with fans by the time she was on. With the admiration of a noticeably female crowd, Nessa seemed like a local hero with her wedge heels, army cut-off pants and no-bull attitude. And she delivered – the blues guitar and ambient keyboards suited Nessa’s phenomenal voice to a t…..For Australian R&B Nessa and her gang are testament to the superb local talent in Australia; this gig seemed de crème de la crème of the genre. And at no point during the gig were catchy break beats or latex boob tubes brought out. It’s all about the music for Nessa.

- THE BRAG, Melanie George


"NEXT BIG THING"

The Byron Bay Bluesfest has gained a reputation as the launching pad for many “next big things”. This year the name to watch is Nessa Morgan.
- COURIER MAIL, Joel Dullroy


Discography

Sex & Poverty - album
Nothing but Love - single
Simple Kinda Woman - single
Stuck Remix EP - single

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio


“Emotional sincerity that goes straight to the heart.”
MARIE CLAIRE

“She’s Australia’s answer to every sultry soul singer the US has produced. Her voice, her grooves, her style, her attitude - this woman is going to stun the country, and probably the rest of the world as well...”
THE HERALD SUN

It takes one to know one. When US soul star Alicia Keys toured Australia in October 2004, Alicia, her band, crew and management were in the wings watching Nessa Morgan tear up the support slot every night. They liked what they saw – a raw soul singer with real songs and a real band – and they all demanded a signed copy of Nessa’s critically acclaimed debut album, Sex & Poverty, to take home to the States.

“At first they thought I was American. Alicia didn’t even know what a Maori was,” says 27-year-old Nessa, a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter. “So I gave her a DVD of [the Academy Award-nominated] Whale Rider. Half an hour later, Alicia was watching it in her dressing room.”

Nessa Morgan has been making an impression on a lot of people lately. Michael Franti & Spearhead’s drummer, Dave Shul, so loved her show when he saw her at the 2005 Melbourne International Music Festival, he offered to be her guitarist for the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival at Byron Bay this year.

She was also the first Australian act to be invited to play the prestigious Bluesfest sideshow at Byron’s famous Beach Hotel. She packed the place. “It was such a great festival. George Clinton was standing side of stage shouting ‘Go Off Girl!’,” recalls Nessa. “I saw Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker Jr … Man, they are naughty old dudes! I am learning from the best!”

Nessa Morgan began writing songs at 24 years old, sometimes writing as many as one song a day. Influenced by Lauren Hill, Anita Baker, Al Green, Bob Marley and Nina Simone, she developed a cool, soulful story-telling style. “I believe in songs about every day life and struggles,” she says. “And I believe you have to sing them with heart and breathe the words out. If you don’t believe what I'm singing then I may as well pack my bags.”

Born into a Maori family in Wellington, New Zealand, Nessa moved to Australia when she was three years old. First stop was Sydney’s Kings Cross, where her musician father gigged with his funk band. The family then followed the work to Bondi before eventually settling in Newcastle, where Nessa and her two sisters and brother went to school. “We were like gypsies,” Nessa says. “My father’s funk band was way ahead of its time so it was hard for them. We just went wherever the work was.”

The muso lifestyle sometimes forced the family to go without food. Nessa and her siblings even resorted to spearfishing for crabs on the Newcastle beaches for dinner. They moved house when they couldn’t pay the rent. “We even got kicked out of a caravan park, you can’t get much lower than that,” she remembers. “We had nothing. We had the clothes on our back and Dad had a saxophone. But as kids, we didn't know any different.”

At 14, Nessa’s careers teacher took one look at her Mohawk hairstyle and predicted a bleak future for her. “She told me I was going to be nothing,” says Nessa. “So I asked Dad to teach me to be a singer. He said it would be really hard and he was right.”

Soon the 15-year-old was practising her vocals every day and performing in her parents’ trio, Arkestra, seven-nights-a-week on a cruise liner. “Mum did backing vocals and I shared lead vocals with my Dad. He told me to sing with my emotions. I was trying to sing like a woman. People said I sounded like I had my heart broken but I was only 15.”

In 2002, Nessa started writing her own songs. “I was 24 and I thought I was too old to be an artist so I'll be a writer instead,” she says. “And I thought no one wants to see a Maori chick singing. Everyone wants little blonde 14-year-old girls as artists. That’s what I honestly thought.”

In her pursuit to establish herself as a songwriter, Nessa started her own trio, gigged three nights a week and worked in a patisserie by day to earn enough money to demo her songs. She found a manager who encouraged her to write more (over 100 songs) and convinced her to be the performer as well as the songwriter and started taking her demos around to the record companies. "People were saying Australians can't do R&B as well as the Americans. They were saying we can't sell it to them. I say 'Bullshit! We can!"

Signed to BMG, Nessa flew to L.A. to record four songs with the legendary producer Don Was.

One of the most prolific and sought-after producers in the music industry, Was has worked with Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Paula Abdul, Willie Nelson, Carly Simon, Elton John, k.d. lang, the B-52s (“Love Shack”) and Roy Orbison. He’s collected four Grammys, including Album Of The Year for his work on Bonnie Raitt’s Nick Of Time. Nessa Morgan is the first Australian artist to have worked with him. “I didn't know who he was!” recalls Nessa