Jennifer Johns - January 2005

Innovative, driven, compassionate, and powerful…just a few words that come to mind when attempting to describe Oakland, CA born singer, songwriter, and spoken word artist Jennifer Johns. Since birth, Jennifer has been making this world "just a little bit more melodic" with her some times boisterous, some times soft, but always powerful voice. If you were to ask her when she started singing she would say, "I don't remember a day that I didn't." However, her first experience on stage was at church at the tender age of 3 and she hasn't stopped since. Reflecting on her diverse musical influences as a youth, from Earth, Wind and Fire, Phoebe Snow, and Sade, to Paul Simon, Whitney Houston and Sweet Honey in the Rock, as well as the , West Indian rhythms that filled her home as a youngster. And then there was hip-hop….

Jennifer says it was somewhere between Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh's "The Show", Rakim's "Know What's on Your Mind", and Queen Latifah's "Ladies First" that she first fell in love with hip-hop music and soon identified as a part of the culture. She says "just as I am music, I am hip hop". At 13 Jennifer pursued her love of music by joining the award winning Oakland Youth Chorus where she studied music in numerous languages under the tutelage of nationally revered conductors Trente Morante, Elizabeth Seja Minn, and Grammy nominee Melonie DeMore. Jennifer soon graduated to OYC's professional a capella ensemble, Vocal Motion where she was afforded the opportunity to work and perform with such musical luminaries as Nancy Wilson, Roberta Flack, Peabo Bryson, Melissa Manchester, and James Ingram.

At 17, Jennifer began to look deeper into a professional career in music and began performing locally in Oakland. 3 years later, after making "a little noise" at home, she decided it was time to move to Los Angeles where she quickly built a name for herself and began recording with Goodvibe Recordings artists The Anonymous and BIG DRO.

During her time in Los Angeles, Jennifer became a member of both SAG and AFTRA, securing voiceover work for commercials with the LA Weekly, Macy's, and Pacific Bell. She also stayed busy building pure.love entertainment a media company she founded in 2001 that produced live music and spoken word events which quickly became a staple in the rapidly growing Los Angeles spoken-soul community. In 2003, having built her fan base through pure.love, Jennifer made the decision to isolate herself in Seattle to record songs for an upcoming project.

And now, with the release of her new EP heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop co-produced by Grammy nominee Spontaneous on her own label, Nayo Movement Music, Jennifer is set to give the world a taste of her "Electric Soul." With the release of Jennifer's EP heavy…, listeners can expect some of what you love about Sade, a lot of what we needed from Lauryn, the warmth and conversational energy of Jill and the mystery of Dido. Hands down Jennifer Johns is a heavyelectromagnetic force to be reckoned with.

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