USA: SINGER SONGWRITER SHEA SEGER PREPARES TO INTRODUCE HER MUSIC TO AMERICAN AUDIENCES

Record ID: 633645

  • Title: USA: SINGER SONGWRITER SHEA SEGER PREPARES TO INTRODUCE HER MUSIC TO AMERICAN AUDIENCES
  • Date: 13th November 2001
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHEA SEGER SAYING, "I was at such an intricate place, both emotionally, physically, environmentally, everywhere around me was in a state of change when I was doing this record and I think I was striving for an understanding of even myself and where that was coming from and where I'd come from, so there wasn't an overall theme or statement to it, other than just this is what I'm dealing with and this is what I'm sorting out for myself and I don't know why, but I'm making it vulnerable to lots of other people."
  • Embargoed: 28th November 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA1UK6XI1SSB0K9JWRNX7YML0I2
  • Story Text: Shea Seger, a 22-year-old, small-town girl from Texas, fought her way into the music scene in London and recently released her first album, "The May Street Project,"
    with a UK record deal. She made her Trans-Atlantic move almost four years ago and has lived in the British capital ever since, but is now back on her home turf introducing herself to American audiences.
    Shea Seger grew up in Quitman, Texas, population 1200. Her mother is an artist; her father a writer -- Seger says the two gave her a less than conventional upbringing, sometimes taking her out of school for a day to listen to music on the radio and talk about it.
    Seger dabbled in theatre at a young age where she developed a dream of being an actress/playwright. She enrolled in theatre school in 1994 and was soon supporting herself performing in local musicals. It was that same childhood dream to act that would drive Seger out of Virginia, to London.
    When the opportunity arose for Shea to move to England and to write her own music, she happily abandoned her theatre career and made the leap across the pond. After arriving, Seger teamed up with producer Martin Terefe and musician Nick Whitecross to write and record her debut album, "The May Street Project," named after the road she lived on growing up in Texas. The release was mixed by Commissioner Gordon and completed by June 2000.
    "Once the ducks started falling in a row with the music, it kind of made much more sense for why I would stay there and I eventually ended up signing there, but other than that, my first and foremost reason was just I fell in love with the city," Seger said.
    The driving first single, "Last Time," the bluesy "Isn't it Good" and the first cut, "Clutch," are among the standout tracks on the album.
    "Clutch" is a collaboration with artist and friend of Seger's Kenna. Like Seger herself, it's difficult to run a thread through "May Street Project" and sum up it's sound in a few words. Her influences come from allof the spectrum -- favourites include Credence Clearwater Revivalist John Fogarty, hip-hopper Mos Def, and eclectic rocker Tom Waits.
    "I grew up on the blues. It's blues-based rock 'n roll and I grew up in this generation which has been very much based on pop and what R&B has evolved into back from blues and old R&B which is what I far more grew up with. So, it's a little bit of everything and not enough of any one of them to call it that," Seger told Reuters.
    However you describe it, Shea Seger is an astonishingly talented writer and with comparisons to Dido and Janis Joplin, she's sure to have a long future.
    ---ENDS---
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