By Natasha Barbieri
When you ask singer Mary-Jess to describe her sound she breaks it down by albums. “My debut album ‘Shine’ was Cinematic Classical Crossover and since then I have headed into a more Easy Listening area of Classical Crossover with more simple arrangements that let the voice have the space to be an instrument in its own right. One of my favorite quotes is from one of my Grandmothers singing books, and it reads ‘The voice [has the ability] to paint in sound the color of human emotions’ and so that’s what I try to do.”
Although raised in England, Mary-Jess found success on a Chinese talent show similar to X-Factor – and it’s all thanks to her language studies. “I studied Chinese Mandarin as an extracurricular GCSE, and not only loved it but was fascinated by it.” Did the language immediately blend with her singing style? “It’s a tonal language, which does give it a musical feel, but I wouldn’t say that it was an easy blend. Some of the pronunciations are more forward in the mouth compared to say Italian, which is very open. Traditionally Chinese singing can tend to sound more nasal because of the way the words have to be pronounced, but I’ve tried to train my soft pallet to stay high even with these more forward and closed pronunciations. I went on to study Music and Chinese studies at the University of Sheffield, the only place that offered Chinese Mandarin with Western classical music. I wasn’t a typical student. I needed one of the few scholarships available for my second year at Nanjing University in order to afford to be there, so I knuckled down, got the scholarship and went to study at Nanjing University and it was while I was there that I entered and won the show.”
Although it was a massive win in China, the British public was still largely unaware of her, but that was soon to change. The story of the English girl winning the Chinese competition quickly spread and Mary-Jess was subsequently signed to Decca records. “Decca gave me a wonderful start to my career. The main skill they helped me hone was song writing. I was sent to every songwriter on their books for a year and a half to write tracks for ‘Shine’. This was to find the right sound for the album and to also make sure that we loved every song. I was clear that I did not want to make another UCJ songbook album, and because of the battle between Sony and Decca to sign me I was able to negotiate a lot of creative control in to my contract. The first song we knew we had for ‘Shine’ was ‘My Own Sunrise’ which I wrote with Chris Eaton, it became the benchmark for every other song after that. In the end we had 50 songs that we loved that we had to choose between. That was difficult. I still want to record some of them! Well, most of them!”
Another highlight to her resume came when Mary-Jess was asked to sing on the soundtrack for the hugely successful show, Downton Abbey. “I was familiar with the show, but the first series was on when I was on tour with Russell Watson, so I’d missed a couple of episodes due to the tour schedule. I bought the box set (oh the days before Netflix!) when I was invited to sing the theme so I could make sure I was fully caught up! Didn’t take long… we couldn’t stop watching it!”
She got a chance to meet the cast at Highclere Castle. “Not only did I have a connection to that event through Downton Abbey, but also through my long family connection with the forces, starting with my family owning Whitehead Aircraft which built biplanes for the first world war, to my Dad being in the navy when he was younger. Plus ‘Glorious’, the first single from my debut album ‘Shine’, was written for the forces.”
Mary-Jess has since become an Indie artist and released a project entitled, ‘Prayer to a Snowflake’ which she wrote with Chris Eaton. “It’s an arrangement based on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ and I’d always wanted to create a song out of it. Chris is the King of Christmas songs; having written songs like ‘Saviours Day’ and ‘O Little Town’ for Sir Cliff Richard, and so I knew he’d be the perfect person to write this new arrangement with. The lyrics were inspired by the beautiful blank canvas that snow creates when it lies like a blanket on the ground, we used that image to portray the message that the future is one of endless possibilities, of ‘shimmering hope’ and that you can paint your own path through the years ahead.”
With music industry success and experience under belt, Mary-Jess has become a mentor for other artists starting out in the classical crossover genre. Her latest recording, ‘Inspire’ see’s her duetting with four up-and-coming singers. “I really enjoy working with young people. I’ve run numerous master classes at The Door Youth Project in Stroud, a wonderful charity that help young people and their families and have been patron of the charity for many years now. They encouraged me to pursue my dreams to become a recording artist when I was a teenager, and now I love doing the same for others. There are so many things that I know now that I wish someone could have told me at the beginning of my career, and so by doing the EP and working with Beth Ford, Ffion Rebecca, Kyle Tomlinson and Tazmin Barnes so closely, talking to them about the industry, performing live, singing, song-writing, recording, and all the other pieces of the puzzle that people don’t automatically put with wanting to be a singer, like social media marketing, online marketing, web development, business management, marketing strategies, copyright, contracts, etc, I hope I can help them achieve their dreams. Being a Classical Crossover artist is a huge asset with this new project, as I knew that the young singers I chose to work with would be welcomed with open arms by my fan base, and they really have been. The wonderful encouraging response from CC fans has been incredible for these young singers. Collaboration is such a huge part of being a musician and is one of the best ways to grow your fan base, and so by putting all these artists on the same EP they can cross-pollinate their fan bases which will give them a leg up that just isn’t possible otherwise.”
In addition to recording and touring, Mary-Jess is also a blogger who features interview with her colleagues on her website blog entitled, ‘A Singer’s Life.’ When asked how she keeps herself organized Mary-Jess responds, “I’m glad it looks that way! I don’t often feel organised and focused! Saying that, I do have my studio at home where I work, and I often shut the door to try not to get distracted. I do my Chinese study every morning which wakes up my brain, and then I look at my numerous lists, and for the first 10 minutes of the working day I plan what I’m going to do, look at what must be done today and do that first, and then carry on with other stuff. I’ve started setting alarms for bed time and get up time that are consistent every day, which is difficult when you are a touring musician! But, when I am able to do it, it means that my body knows when to go to sleep and so I get more restful sleep even though it’s sometimes for less time. Otherwise your body is in a constant state of jet lag, which makes it very difficult to stay focussed. My motivation behind all of this though, is that I know what I want. If you don’t know what you want, how can you plan for what you want and how can you achieve it? The only person who is responsible for making your dreams come true is you. So, get up, get out there and go do it. Now.”
Her go-getter attitude is clear through the campaign’s she has successfully launched for Artist Signal and Pledge Music. She offers the following advice for anyone looking to do the same. “Keeping people updated and in the loop is very beneficial. Keep your fans a part of your journey all the way and ask them what they want. They’re the ones who are going to be spending their hard-earned cash on your art after all, so make sure it’s something that they are going to want and be happy with. Show them how excited you are about the project you are crowd funding for and they will share that passion and enthusiasm with you and really get behind your dream. At least I know Classical Crossover fans will. They’re amazing.”
Mary-Jess has performed with several successful crossover acts including Russell Watson and G4 and calls them “completely different experiences.” She elaborates saying, “I toured with Russell just before ‘Shine’ was released and so these were the biggest live audiences I had ever performed to at that point. The 70 million Chinese ‘X Factor’ viewers were behind cameras and watching at home, so I just tried to forget the figures. It’s a bit more difficult when they’re all sat there looking at you! It was a huge learning curve but Russell was a great coach.” By the time she toured with G4 she had more experience under her belt, “So I’m able to enjoy it so much more. I’ve also learned how to capitalise on being a guest soprano too. One of the most important things to do is to offer the audiences a free download if they sign up to your mailing list. It’s a wonderful way to thank them for coming along and you can then build a great relationship with people who like you and who like to support live music, what could be better?”
They continue to collaborate, and Mary-Jess will join G4 again on tour in September. “I love being on the bus with them, and the bunks are so comfortable, and I love cooking in the slow cookers with Ben! But one of the things I enjoy most is being around fellow musicians and chatting about music and ideas for the future. Exciting!”
Mary-Jess takes her diet seriously telling us that while she is currently vegetarian she is “on the road to veganism.” Does it have an affect on her voice? “I first gave up dairy in 2010 while recording Shine, I did it purely so that my voice could be as clear as possible for the recording. At that point I had no idea about the environmental, moral, or health reasons for adopting a plant-based diet, and so still carried on eating meat as I had always done. I couldn’t believe the difference that one change made! Not only did it have the desired effect for my voice, but I had so much more energy, I felt stronger, healthier, and I dropped a dress size! All in just
a few months! Needless to say, I kept on avoiding diary as much as I could from then on.”
She explains that her boyfriend has been a vegetarian since he was 4 and is a successful professional athlete. “As with any sport, you do what you can to give yourself a competitive edge, and he swears by his vegetarianism, knowing that it has contributed to his success.”
But does the diet make meal planning hard on the road? “Being vegetarian hasn’t made meals difficult in the slightest, over 1.2 million people in the UK are vegetarian, around 542,000 people are vegan, and the number of people adopting a plant-based diet has increased by 360% in the last 10 years, rising more now than ever before.” Now there are many more options to supply the demand. “When I’m on tour with G4, we have two slow cookers on the bus, Ben Thapa and I love to cook for everyone, and they can’t believe it when we say that what we’ve cooked is vegan, usually saying something like ‘But it’s too good to be vegan!’ So are Oreos, but they’re vegan too!”
Since her first big break came in China, Mary-Jess splits her time between her English and Chinese fan base. “Happily, I have a good amount in both countries, as I love flying back and forth as much as I can!”
Her love for languages continues and she hopes to learn more. “I’d love to see the similarities between Chinese and Japanese, and Japan is an amazing country, so Japanese is certainly on the list, as is Italian. It’s a beautiful language and I love singing Italian arias.”
Going forward what can we expect from Mary-Jess? “I’ve always wanted to go live in Italy. I have day dreams about cycling down to a beautiful village on a vintage bicycle, buying some bread and flowers, studying Italian, Italian opera and proper authentic Italian cooking. If I don’t come back from Italy at least two dress sizes bigger I will be very disappointed in myself!”
The new album “Inspire” is available from www.mary-jess.com
