“Some performers need the audience to listen long and carefully before anyone gets that there is something good going on. With Shameem you’d have to be locked in a lead-lined room to miss this lady’s sparkle. Her charisma and sheer energy on stage command attention and the listener is rewarded with a swinging, soulful sound – this is what jazz is all about.”
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This article was published in various Community newspapers, including the Guardian Express, the Western Suburbs Weekly, the Southern Gazette, the Melville Times and the Cockburn Gazette. Article by Emilia Vranjes, photos by Will Russell.
Teen superstar Justin Bieber, Brit songbird Lily Allen and US rapper Sean Kingston all have YouTube and Myspace to thank for their rise to global fame, and perhaps another music industry fairytale could be unfolding right here in Perth.
Shameem Taheri-Lee may be an unknown now, but a UK song-writing stint scheduled for mid-this year with international songwriter and producer James Bryan could change all that. Bryan’s credits include Canadian pop/R&B artist Nelly Furtado’s career-making Grammy hits Like a Bird and Turn out the Lights.
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Victoria Park singer Shameem Taheri-Lee will share the stage with world-renowned trumpet player James Morrison when he performs with the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra at the Perth Concert Hall in August.
Ms Taheri-Lee, 20, is a second year Bachelor of Music student at the WA Academy of Performing Arts and auditioned for WAYJO earlier this year.
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BLOG ENTRY 18/05/10
I’ve been away! Spent a weekend in Mt Gambier participating in the finals for the James Morrison Generations in Jazz Vocal Scholarship. It was awesome to be back in Mt Gambier (having participated in last years’ finals too) and so amazing to meet the other finalists – all these talented young musicians not unlike myself, but so diverse at the same time. Sorry fans, no win, but I’m very happy to say that the competition was stiff and that the winner (one Kate Kelsey-Sugg) was very deserving. A highlight was being able to rub shoulders and play with such fantastic Australian musicians as Phil Stack (of Thirsty Merc), James Muller, Emma Pask, Graeme Lyall, The Idea of North and of course, the man himself, James Morrison. This guy is so generous – after a full weekend of adjudicating not only the finalists for the vocal AND instrumental scholarships, as well as adjudicating division one of the National Stage Band Competition; at our celebration dinner on the last night, instead of sitting back and enjoying the good food and wine, he takes all 12 finalists into an adjoining room, one by one, and gives us all individual feedback plus a chat about music and life in general. What a champ… it’s good to know that the big people still care about the little people.
Checking out Mt Gambier's famous Blue Lake.
