Alyssa Jacey

"A year from now, somebody might ask why 2014 was such a packed year for me musically, and I'll be able to trace it back to these mentoring sessions with Alyssa Jacey. Had another great meeting tonight, and I honestly think if I met her 5 years ago, I'd be Bruno Mars right now." ~February 2014 client, Evan McKee. Click to read more... - C. Farr Music

"Our great musical guest today, she's a producer, a co-producer, she's a guitarist, she's a drummer, she's a vocalist, a writer, the list goes on, she's talented, she's extremely talented, and she's gonna be telling us why we should be wearing blue today. Miss Alyssa Jacey! Alyssa, you are one of the most motivated people in Nashville. Why the move to Nashville from San Diego?" Click to download this interview for FREE! - At The Hops

"My guest today was nominated as 'Best Live Country Performer' for the 2013 Nashville Independent Music Awards, her new single, 'The Light,' can be found on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and other online streaming/downloading sources. She plays guitar, drums, writes her own songs, and just happens to be extremely attractive. Please welcome, Alyssa Jacey!" Click to download this interview for FREE! - Now Hear This Entertainment

Carlsbad's Alyssa Jacey knew she'd be in the arts for her career. Almost 20 years in dance, including an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego in 2003, led her to believe that dance would be her life's work.

On the other hand, she'd been writing poetry and short fiction since she was a little girl growing up in Rancho Santa Fe, and her parents had always encouraged her to try to get her work published. So if dance didn't work out, she could pursue writing.

Karaoke night changed all that.

Having moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue dance professionally, Jacey found herself working at a bar along Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade to pay the bills while she broke into the dance business.

"My co-workers forced me onto stage for karaoke night," Jacey said by phone earlier this week, laughing. "Karaoke turned into everything else."

Five years into her adopted career as a singer-songwriter, Jacey said she is still surprised by it.

"I never thought I was going to be a musician."

She said six months of piano lessons as a child counted as her exposure to formal music education.

"I just wanted to dance," she said, listing hip hop, ballet, jazz, swing and tap as among the styles she studied through the years. She also said that sports took up a lot of her time in her high school years ---- she competed in gymnastics, basketball, volleyball and soccer, either on school or club teams.

After the karaoke performance lit her passion for music, Jacey said she soon realized music was what she wanted to spend her life focused on. She began writing her own songs, and after several frustrating experiences with guitarists she'd hired to accompany her singing, she had a fortuitous encounter with one of the famed Romero clan of classical guitarists.

"I had moved back down from Los Angeles and told my dad I wanted to sing, and he was like, 'Oh, this is Alyssa's new thing.' We were having dinner with Pepe Romero, and he told my father he should buy me a guitar, but he wouldn't. Pepe bought me a classical guitar and gave me my first lesson that day and I've been self-taught ever since."

By 2005, Jacey had written enough songs that she was playing around the county at coffeehouses and other acoustic venues. She said she has accumulated about 160 songs, 30 to 40 of which are in her active repertoire.

While she had written poetry for years, she said writing lyrics for her songs is a different process.

"I don't know where the songwriting thing came from ---- I feel like I got slapped in the face. It came out of nowhere: 'You're going to be a musician, you're going to sing.' "

She's issued two EPs and one full-length disc so far; a three-song demo of her current work will be available at the end of the year, and she's working on another full-length CD for issue in 2009. Jacey said she had completed another full-length work last year, tentatively titled "Bittersweet," but decided not to release it.

"When I look back, I'm glad I didn't" issue it, she said. "The title says it all ---- there were a lot of sad songs that were going to be on it.

"I've been working on some happier songs, and my guitar playing and songwriting have gotten better."

- Jim Trageser

"I never focused on the music scene until a few years ago," says Alyssa Jacey. "I always listened to music and appreciated everyone who was on the radio, selling out shows, but ever since I decided to pursue music instead of a dance career -- such as a choreographer for someone like Usher or one of JT's backup dancers -- I have been paying more attention to acoustic artists and local talent, not so much bands."

Jacey was born in La Jolla, and raised in Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar. She attended Torrey Pines High School, went to Sonoma State her freshman year of college, then attended Mira Costa (Junior College) for a couple years part time and decided to take a break. She took 2.5 years off, to follow her life long dream to become a dancer (touring with Usher as a back up dancer and/or choreograph for artists such as him). She taught hip-hop classes in gyms and colleges and danced with professional, traveling teams.

During this period, she left San Diego a few times for college and a stint in L.A. for nine months. "I am about to have to make the decision at some point in early 2008 to either move to L.A. or stay in S.D.," she says, "and I'm just not sure I can leave here again."

Before pursuing music, she had many unrelated gigs, including "Nannying three kids -- all under 9 years old -- when I was 17. While living in L.A., one of my three jobs was talent scouting for child actors and models. It sucked. [And] working for Victoria's Secret during the holiday season -- you haven't experienced mayhem until you've been around hundreds of women fighting over bras, panties, and dressing rooms."

Jacey was given a guitar by world famous classical guitarist and very close family friend, Pepe Romero in October of 2005. She took one lesson from him that day and she's been self taught ever since.

She's currently in the recording studio for her first album, playing guitar on 11 out of the 13 songs. "I've been working on it for about one and a half years now and have to start from scratch -- long story. But it's all good since I've become better at recording in this time -- more experience, and I have newer, fresher, better material and a professional studio and musicians to work with. I hope for it to be out by June." - San Diego Reader

http://thecoastnews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Accidental+singer-songwriter+on+her+way+up%20&id=6073183

It takes more than talent to make it as a successful artist (or anything for that matter). You have to be strong, ambitious, determined and undeterred by everyone else’s doubt or else you won’t make it. More than anything, you’ve got to believe that what you’re doing is something truly great, and that you yourself are great, otherwise no one else will believe it either. I can think of no better example than San Diego’s own rising star Alyssa Jacey.

Jacey, 28, a San Diego native and aspiring singer/songwriter, is a double threat because she is as determined and as talented as they come. Her story got its unusual start several years ago when Jacey moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in professional dancing, and was encouraged one night to sing karaoke in a club. Although it was her first time singing in front of a crowd, once she finished, people came up to her complimenting her voice and asking where they could buy her CD. It wasn’t long after that Jacey found herself with an overwhelming desire to sing and write songs, and in 2005 she moved back to San Diego, enrolled in college and began pursuing music.

“October 2005 was actually the first time I picked up a guitar,” said Jacey. However this guitar was a gift from the classical guitar virtuoso Pepe Ramero, who also happens to be a good friend of her father’s. Jacey wasted no time teaching herself how to play and immediately began writing songs.

Today Jacey has more than 200 songs and more than 400 shows under her belt. In the less than five years since she started singing and writing, she has accomplished more than most musicians do in twice as long. She’s self-released four recordings including her first full-length album “Here’s to Change,” which just dropped Jan 2. One of the first gigs she got was an eight show/two-hour set for the Del Mar Fair back in 2005, and she even sang the National Anthem during a Padres game.

2009 however proved to be Jacey’s most accomplished year so far when she set some 60 goals for herself and reached nearly all of them. “I am so proud of 2009!” gushed a bubbly Jacey. “It was such a gigantic leap for me from ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 and ‘08.” Indeed, one of the singer/songwriter’s main goals last year was to open for some bigger acts. She ended up opening up for artists like Bushwalla, Paula Cole, Scott Russo (of Unwritten Law) and many others.

It’s not surprising to hear how successful she’s been in such a short amount of time once you realize how determined and professional she really is. She’s always subscribed to a DIY policy, acting as her own promoter, publicist, booking agent and manager. And once you hear Jacey’s songs you’re instantly pulled into them; each one offering another story and sincere emotion. And even though she has more than 200 of them, each one is like a little piece of her, each significant in its own way, yet still very different from another.

“I try to touch on as many subjects as I can because I like to diversify and not be held to just one genre,” she said. Her new album, “Here’s to Change,” is a great example of her genre-defying sound. Her major female influences still shine through clearly (she lists Colbie Caillat, Ingrid Michaelson, and Sarah McLachlan as her favorites) on the tracks, although her own personal twist and style makes it all her own.

The album’s first single “Fall Out of Love” is already getting airplay on local radio stations although she confesses her personal favorite off the album is an emotional song called “Feel Like This.”

“I wrote that song when I was up crying one night and that emotion really comes through in the song,” she said. “I still get choked up when I play it live even now.”

Her top priority right now is to find a manager, someone who can use their connections to take her to the next level she wants to reach. And with her fearless and unrelenting attitude combined with her natural ability, she is no doubt bound for a major breakthrough.

Although she’s had her share of hard lessons and bad experiences along the way, Jacey still insists it’s all worth it. “It’s not something that’s easier said that done. You have to work for it and believe in yourself and no matter how hard it gets, you can’t let it stop you. You have to have a take-no-prisoners attitude but most importantly, don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t.“

Watch her open with a solo acoustic set for Shawn Colvin at the Coachouse Feb. 13 and on March 25 at Lestat’s (both are all-age sshows). Tickets, tour info, CDs and more can be purchased on her Web site at www.alyssajacey.com. You can also find her on Facebook, MySpace, and iTunes. - Lacy Ottenson