Tessanne Chin: a paper and a guitar

Music in line of sight

In the category of singers we would love to hear a lot more, here’s Tessanne Chin, our second stop after Brittany Bosco.

Artist: Tessanne Chin
Album: (to be announced)
Release date: (to be announced)
Genre: Rock, reggae, soul, dancehall
Country: Jamaica
Rating: 5/5
Length: (to be announced)
Label: VP Records
Are there any typos in the « Genre » category? No, it is what it is.

Tessanne’s dynamic consists of a good dose of rock carefully measured out with a reggae routine. The result? Smart lyrics dropped in a staccato manner that  glorifies dancehall and enriches soul. Where does that come from?

Tessanne Chin is an emerging star from Jamaica but she is also a face of the world; she has a Chinese, White, Cherokee Indian and African heritage. In 2008, the Chinese government invited her to join the Jamaican Olympic team. Her manager was proud that Tessanne was chosen « to bridge the gap between the Chinese community in China and Jamaica. »

Her international culture is also reflected in her musical preferences. Her favorite singers range from Celine Dion to Bob Marley or Barbara Streisand and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few. She has also toured the world  as a backup singer for Jimmy Cliff.

Tessanne believes in live music versus computer-made tracks. She wants to share a bit of her own soul and she bleeds ink on paper. If you need to picture her pouring her imagination on a track, just visualize two things; a paper and an acoustic guitar.

« It is very important to me that my songs can sound amazing with a big band or orchestra, but just as powerful and touching with just me and my guitar. »

So much can be said about Tessanne that we don’t know where to start. Maybe we should begin with her childhood, lulled by her trumpeter-mother and her drummer-father. Or shall we mention her moving to London at age 12, to discover a multicultural world that inspired her songwriting?

All these moments were critical in the making of a great artist but the turning point musically was, perhaps, when she returned home in Jamaica.
She realized she was truly made for the stage while performing with her rock band, Mile High.
But it wasn’t enough for Tessanne; she needed to fly with her own wings and sing her own songs. So she left Mile High and started penning tracks for her upcoming album.

Many have discovered Tessanne after her song, « Hide Away », appeared on the Reggae Gold 2007 compilation.

Listen to « Hide Away »

Listen to « Messenger » 

Since then, we have had the pleasure to explore her world with songs like « Messenger » where she « shoots us down with her lyrical bullets » to paraphrase the chorus.

Yesterday, Tessanne shot the video for « Rise Again », a song written in less than a day. Proceeds from the track will go to the Digicel Haiti Relief Fund. The voices of Shaggy, Sean Paul, Shontelle, Sean Kingston, Alison Hinds, Etana, Edwin Yearwood, David Rudder, Kees Dieffenthaller, Destra Garcia and Belo can also be heard on « Rise Again ». The song will soon be available for purchase.

This is not the first time that Tessanne and Shaggy are reunited in a track. The two Jamaican singers have recorded a reggae ballad called « Never Let Me Go » and your very own blog has it on its channel!

Never Let Me Go via Youtube!

We still don’t know when Tessanne will release her first solo but we are glad she’s taking her time to produce an album that will rock our ears!
To get a foretaste of the album, you should visit her official website and her profile on MySpace.