artist info

Rachelle Ferrell is a recent arrival on the contemporary jazz scene, but her visibility on the pop / urban contemporary scene has boosted her audience's interest in her jazz recordings. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ferrell got started singing in the second grade at age six. This no doubt contributed to the eventual development of her startling six-and-change octave range. She decided early on, after classical training on violin, that she wanted to try to make her mark musically as an instrumentalist and songwriter.

In her mid-teens, her father bought her a piano with the provision that she learn to play to a professional level. Within six months, Ferrell had secured her first professional gig as a pianist/singer. She began performing at 13 as a violinist, and in her mid-teens as a pianist and vocalist. At 18, she enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study composition and arranging, where her classmates included Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, and Donald Harrison. She graduated in a year and taught music with Dizzy Gillespie for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Through the 1980's and into the early '90's, she'd worked with some of the top names in jazz including Quincy Jones, George Benson and George Duke.

Ferrell's debut, First Instrument, was released in 1990 in Japan only. In 1995, Blue Note released her Japanese debut for U.S. audiences. Her 1992 self-titled U.S. debut, a more urban pop/contemporary album, was released on Capitol Records. Ferrell was signed to a unique two-label contract, recording pop and urban contemporary for Capitol Records and jazz music for Blue Note Records. For four consecutive years in the early '90's, Ferrell put in festival stopping performances at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.

Although Ferrell has captured the jazz public's attention as a vocalist, she continues to compose and write songs on piano and violin. Ferrell's work ethic has paid off, and Gillespie's predictions about her becoming a 'major force' in the jazz industry came true. Her prolific songwriting abilities and ability to accompany herself on piano seem only to further her natural talent as a vocalist.

Rachelle Ferrell has made her mark not as a straight-ahead jazz singer and pianist, but as a crossover artist who's equally at home with urban contemporary pop, gospel, classical music and jazz. In the year 2000, Rachelle returned with the excellent, 'more street' orientated, Individuality (Can I Be Me?).