Kreesha Turner 'Passion' album

Kreesha Turner, Canada’s brightest blooming flower, carries the calling cards of stardom: her career jumpstarted by a talent search; her face simultaneously exotic and cherubic; her unstoppable smash “Bounce With Me” bubbling all over the TV dial: Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty, Entourage, Desperate Housewives, Lipstick Jungle, The Hills, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Moonlight, and Nikon commercials with Ashton Kutcher to name a few. What observers outside her immediate sphere couldn’t have seen, what the world couldn’t possibly have predicted, was her Passion.

“When I decided to make singing my life, I knew I wanted to do pop music because I wanted to reach as many people as I could,” Kreesha shares. “I wanted to reach people but not simply be an overnight sensation. If you want to do this because you love it and have a lasting career, you have to be genuine and know that there is soul and effort put into every song, real emotions behind the words you sing and speak. My influences stem from older music which people believe had more substance in the lyrical content.”

A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Kreesha Turner took her first musical steps at an early age. “I started off as a dancer; I remember tap dancing to Oscar Peterson in my bedroom at the age of five,” she reveals. “I grew up with this inclination toward jazz: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and more modern artists like Molly Johnson. At age eight, I told my parents I wanted to learn jazz piano, and when I started singing, I specifically sought a jazz vocal teacher. Pop is very on the beat, which at the beginning was hard for me timing-wise, because I was used to having the freedom of going behind or around the beat while singing jazz. My influences definitely left their mark on my pop vocals.”

Indeed, Kreesha grew up knee-deep in her dad’s collection of vinyl records. But she pressed to absorb everything she could, intent on finding her own musical lane: “I remember in elementary school staying up until midnight because that was when they would play the urban hour on Much Music (the Canadian version of MTV). They would show all the hip-hop videos. I couldn’t find that stuff on the radio. Only by sneaking downstairs on school nights was I exposed to hip-hop.”

During Kreesha’s teenage years, her mother —a native Jamaican—suggested that Kreesha spend time in the island nation to broaden her horizons. “Her whole goal of sending me was for me to see who she is, why she thinks as she thinks, why she does what she does,” Kreesha recounts. “I was so naïve when I arrived, but I became very analytical, very observant of people. I realized that there’s so much I love about Jamaica that I wish I could impose on North American culture. So as far as going there, I wouldn’t change that in a million years. Everything my mother intended happened: for me to gain new perspective and understand a reality different than the one I grew up with. Our relationship couldn’t be any stronger now.”

While in Jamaica, Kreesha was under the auspices of her aunt, her mother’s sister. Part of the regimen intended to instill more discipline and structure in Kreesha’s life were daily visits to the Faith Temple Tabernacle, a local Pentecostal church on the outskirts of Kingston. In perhaps a moment of divine intervention, Kreesha would find her calling—not to the altar, but to the stage. “One of my friends signed me up to audition for the youth choir without ME knowing,” she recalls. “So I was very surprised when my name was called. Mind you, I have no idea what I’m about to sing, so the conductor made a suggestion: ‘We don’t know the Canadian national anthem,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you sing it for us?’”

The selection would prove both fortuitous and ironic. This bit of patriotic pomp pushed Kreesha, who was to this point primarily a dancer —“I’ve always understood music through dance, expressing how music makes me feel through movement of my body” — on her eventual life course. “I grew to love singing in front of a reactive audience like the church congregation,” she gushes. “For the first time, I was the one creating these emotions, evoking the movement and reaction that I used to feel in response to music. I felt empowered by it; I felt close to it.” Determined to keep things close, Kreesha returned to Edmonton to explore local musical outlets. She immersed herself in every aspect of performance within proximity and reason: vocal lessons, acting lessons, musical theater, choirs. She sat back down to the ivories, attempted to build finger calluses via plucked guitar, even put pen to paper as an aspiring songwriter. “That’s when I integrated myself,” she states with a straight face, into the Edmonton underground hip-hop scene, which people are always fascinated to discover exists, but it does. I would perform hooks and choruses to hip-hop, using all my own material; I got a lot of attention because I was the only female and the only vocalist. So after trying for months to get shows, others asked me to add variety to their shows.”

Kreesha Turner was on the rise. She rode this regional groundswell into a talent competition and won. Her reward: a four-track demo with established Vancouver-based production duo Hip-joint. One of these songs would explode as the aforementioned “Bounce With Me,” the veritable pop culture soundtrack off her forthcoming debut on Capitol/EMI, Passion.

And what of Passion? Sure, it has the hallmarks of irrefutability: revered primary producer Jon Levine, Grammy Award-winning songwriters Harold Lilly (Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Brandy) and Aaron Pearce (Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé), as well as statue-stockpiling producer Devo Springsteen (Kanye West, John Legend, Aretha Franklin) But what is it really? According to Kreesha, it’s “a very eclectic album that has multiple ideas and influences, and it allows the listener a bit more variety.”

The opening track is also titular; a hard-charging collision of tympani, tribal shouts, hand claps, and piercing whistle gives way to Kreesha’s silky vocal, equal parts syrup and sass. No languid libido-fest, “Passion” is more a war cry than a mating call. “The entire song is about my determination and my commitment in trying to make it,” Kreesha offers. “If I didn’t have this passion, then this album wouldn’t exist.” Lead single, “Don’t Call Me Baby”, chastises a former lover, amidst rollicking drum kit and a spine-shivering high-octave chorus.

Elsewhere, “Simple” is a sweat-inducing 4/4 party starter; while “There,” “My Place,” and “If You See Him” scale back the tempo for soul-searching, slice-of-life soliloquies. But Passion is more than a mere sum of parts. Its very ethos, and that of Kreesha herself, is recombining essential elements of music past with the bravado and allure of today. Take the ambitious cover of Minnie Ripperton’s “Always (Lovin’ You), a challenge for even the most skilled vocalist. And note Kreesha’s jazz leanings on “Black Magic” and “Beautiful;” envision her in a smoke-hued piano lounge, clad in full-length cocktail dress and clasping a microphone stand: “Somehow I connect with the vibe of jazz, how the performers stand on stage with their eyes closed, just emitting this authenticity.”

“I really want people to take in every song,” she concludes. “I don’t feel like any one song in particular reflects me completely as an artist. I’m treating the album as an entire piece, not as one single and eleven album tracks. I feel like you will understand me, where I’m coming from, the influences I have musically, the experiences I have personally, and how I convey myself and my feelings by taking in the entire thing. There’s serious stuff, but there’s fun stuff too. I just want people to come open-minded, be willing to really listen, and try to find those different influences: ‘Oh I hear the Aretha. I hear the Billie Holiday. I hear the ABBA.’” But this is 2008. It’s time to hear Kreesha. It’s time to hear her Passion.

more about Kreesha Turner
Emerging artist Kreesha Turner has already had her song “Bounce With Me” featured on TV shows like Lipstick Jungle and Entourage as well as the new Nikon commercial featuring Ashton Kutcher. Her debut album is slated to be released in October ’08 from Capitol Music Group. A lot will be said and written about Kreesha Turner’s exciting debut album Passion and its eclectic blend of soulful, jazzy, pop-infused R&B. But for the young artist whose sweet soprano shines on every track, the album can be described quite simply. “It’s just good music to enjoy and listen to over and over again,” says Kreesha.

All she asks is that you soak up all 13 tracks before passing judgment. “Take it in as one piece. You’re only going to understand me as an artist if you hear all the songs.” That’s because the decidedly pop feel of “Bounce With Me” can’t be compared to the funky European vibe of “Don’t Call Me Baby” (“A song to a guy,” says Kreesha), the beat-heavy “My Place” (“It’s a very sad song”) or the stripped-down sound of “If You See Him” (“A nice little closer that lets people hear my voice”).

Kreesha co-wrote five of the songs, including the title track, which she believes is only fitting. “It’s a song about dedication and perseverance.”

The oldest of three children born to a Canadian father and Jamaican mother, Kreesha was raised in Edmonton, a city of about 1 million in the province of Alberta. She can’t remember a time when music wasn’t part of her life. As young as six, Kreesha would dance in her bedroom to instrumentals by jazz icon Oscar Peterson. “I always had an inclination for jazz,” she recalls. “As long as I can remember.”

Over the years, Kreesha’s musical tastes broadened and she fell in love with R&B acts like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and D’Angelo, Hip-Hop acts including A Tribe Called Quest, Andre 3000 and Common and Rock acts like the Foo Fighters and Our Lady Peace. Kreesha expressed her love of music through dance and performed modern, tap, jazz, hip-hop and African. But it wasn’t until 2000 that Kreesha took a voyage that would lead her to discover that she was blessed with another way of expressing herself.

“My mom wanted me to experience how she grew up and to learn about our Jamaican culture,” Kreesha explains, “So she sent me to live in Jamaica for a year when I was 15.” Kreesha quickly learned that singing is a big part of everyday life on the island, particularly at the Pentecostal church. Friends convinced her to try out for the youth choir. “I remember thinking, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t sing!’ especially because it was a solo audition.” On the strength of her rendition of Canada’s national anthem, she was accepted into the choir and began singing gospel songs at the Faith Temple Tabernacle for parishioners who couldn’t help but take notice of her voice. It changed her life forever. “I always knew the power of music but I only knew how to express it through movement. But when I started singing in my church choir, for the first time I was the one creating music,” Kreesha recalls. “I was the one standing there singing and seeing the energy and emotion pouring out of the people. I fell in love with singing.”

Upon her return to Canada, Kreesha was hooked on performing and soon became known at her high school as “the girl who sings the national anthem” at commencement and athletic events. She formed a dance crew that entertained with song-and-dance routines.

With no R&B scene to speak of in Edmonton, Kreesha immersed herself in the city’s underground hip-hop community. Her determination to infuse some R&B into the scene was welcomed – and people embraced her smooth voice and stunning looks. “I found I was noticed at a lot of events simply because I was different. There would be 10 rap guys and me. I was the only female and the only alternative to rap,” she remembers. “I’d be the only singer.” Offers to do her own shows started pouring in and Kreesha performed almost every weekend for three years.

Despite stints working at a greenhouse and in retail, Kreesha knew music would become a living. “I had it in my head.” She made a deal with her family and she had their support. “As soon as I got out of high school I told my parents that I’m going to try as hard as I can for the next five years and if nothing happens I’ll go back to school and my back-up plan,” says Kreesha.

Instead, the young singer did everything she could think of to perfect her craft. She joined a gospel choir and a jazz choir, took lessons in acting, musical theatre, piano and guitar. She read books, recorded her own EPs and sold them at her shows. And she entered every singing competition she could.

In 2005, she won a talent search contest sponsored by Edmonton radio station 91.7 FM The Bounce and was given the chance to record four tracks with Vancouver-based writers/producers Hipjoint. One of those songs, “Bounce With Me,” became a radio hit and attracted the attention of urban music manager Chris Smith (Nelly Furtado, Tamia). The song she describes as “fun” has been featured in episodes of Gossip Girl and Entourage as well as in promos for Lipstick Jungle.

On Passion, Kreesha collaborated with some of the best in the business including Grammy Award-winning songwriter Harold Lilly (Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson), producer Devo Springsteen, another Grammy winner (John Legend, Aretha Franklin) and Toronto-based songwriter and producer Jon Levine (Philosopher Kings, Nelly Furtado).

Eclectic is a good word to describe Kreesha’s debut. “Always (Lovin’ You)” is a modern homage to Minnie Riperton’s soulful classic “Lovin’ You” and was produced by Devo Springsteen. “Chains of Love”, written in the studio by Kreesha and Jon Levine, was inspired by her decision to sport an afro on that day.

“I can honestly say that I love my whole album,” Kreesha says. “I’m so proud of every single song on there.”

And like any true artist, Kreesha hopes her music touches people. “I want them to know which song they can turn on if they’re feeling a certain way,” she says. “Regardless of what emotion it is, for me to be able to create that emotion is a privilege and an intimate type of interaction.”

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Kreesha Turner - Passion