Bio

Venessa is a South African singer/songwriter born in Cape Town. She started playing the piano at the age of six and composed her first song at the age of seven. She achieved grade eight in classical music - taken as a subject at school and went on to further her talent with three years of jazz at the University of Cape Town. She also graduated with a grade 8 in contemporary music at the ALMSA music school. 1994 Session Profile Venessa then went into the professional field and between 1994 and 1998 she performed in numerous successful shows with Mike McCullough. These were tribute shows in which she played keyboards and did backing vocals. In chronological order, the shows were Stage Fright, Sixty Something, Seventy Something, Rolling Stones and Beatles. The final professional show was Roll over Beethoven, produced by Duck Chowles, in which she was a production partner with the other band members. Venessa has up to date also appeared as backing vocals and piano sessions for several ads, and local bands in South Africa, and is regarded as a top session musician. (Please ask for more details if interested). 1998 Silver Tulip Records & Music School In 1998 Venessa was approached by an independent record label (Silver Tulip) to play keyboards for one of their original artists. Here she began to compose and record her own songs, and to pay the bills she started the Bay Music School of contemporary music. However, her first passion is for singing and song writing. In February 2000 Venessa assembled a band of well-known musicians to create a demo CD - recorded at Sunset Recording Studios, produced by Theo Crous of Springbok Nude Girls fame. The song "With you" from this recording charted on the Erickson High Five of Radio 5fm shortly after this. (Please ask for more details if interested) With this as inspiration, Venessa recorded a further seven songs in January 2001 , again at Sunset Recording Studio's this time produced by Jurgen von Wechmar (producer of Lesley Rae Dowling's award winning "Clear" Album). For these recordings she used a different group of session musicians. These songs together with the three previously recorded songs created the album 'Burn'. 2001 Album: Burn When asked to describe Burn: "slow, moody, expressive rock, comes to mind. She considers the major influences of this CD to be Massive Attack, Tori Amos and Cold Play. She likes the darker feel she attributes to her music although she finds writing and performing to be an uplifting experience "a personal release, a self-expression through a powerful medium". Venessa has been to every little corner of this beautiful country, performing with professional shows and has played at festivals and other music venues with her band. 2002 Ringtone Production However, 2002, an opportunity, to not refuse, beckoned which kept Venessa from furthering her solo career. Together with Jurgen Kuhnel, Venessa started a successful Ringtone production company, contracted to iTouch Global. For the past 5 years, they have created ringtones for companies ranging from Australia, Nigeria, and Finland to Russia. (And just about every country in between) This venture has been very lucrative and gave them the opportunity to build their own unique studio and sound. 2007 Album: This Life So after 5 years of experimenting, in between a busy production schedule, finally the sound they have been after had been reached. The album is called “This Life”. Together with Jurgen Kuhnel (engineer) and Simon Heyworth (mastering) the perfect sound for Venessa has been discovered. Jurgen and Venessa, without a shadow of a doubt, form an impeccable team. As the studio is growing, an opportunity to produce local bands, have been identified. Also advertising production and film soundtracks are more avenues they are willing to explore. www.myspace.com/venessanolan [b][/b][b][/b][b][/b][color="orange"][/color]