Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter
PATTERSON
IT'S ALMOST impossible to imagine what the fusion of reggae and jazz sounds like until you've heard Keisha Patterson sing.
It's an unlikely yet natural combination before Patterson lays her raspy voice on the tracks. The 20-something-year-old songstress has been singing for more than 13 years, and has toured with the likes of Sly and Robbie and Sinead O'Connor, but says there is nothing she loves more than singing jazz.
Still, Patterson's original pieces are undeniably freckled with reggae: "Although I enjoy mostly jazz, I am trying to fuse reggae and jazz and that is what most of my own songs are like ... The transition (from jazz) was a pretty natural one," she said.
Patterson grew up in a household where singing was second nature to all. She says the five children were often found singing individually, but they especially loved doing so together.
"I had a pretty great childhood. We all loved to sing. One of my brothers especially - he was a singer and used to sing with Father Ho Lung," said Patterson.
It was this brother who arranged her first audition. "I loved the experience. I didn't get the part, but I still loved it," she said.
After that, she joined 'Kids Stuff' - a theatre company - but it was later disbanded.
LOVE FOR THEATRE
"There were people like Michael Nicholson, now known as 'String Bean', in there ... but after that, I went and joined the School of Dance. I don't know, I've just always been performing and been in the art," Patterson said.
Patterson's interest in theatre blossomed and she joined the Jamaica Musical Theatre Company, Ashe and Father Ho Lung and Friends. "Having grown up in the theatre helped me to adapt to different kinds of music. You have the 'rootsy' me and some people see a different Keisha. I just love doing different genres of music," she said.
It's that love that led Patterson to start performing jazz in the first place, but she says she doesn't get the opportunity to showcase her songs when she performs jazz pieces. Eager to show fans that she has a style of her own, and a killer voice to back her up, she recently released her single, Realise, for which she is working on the video.
Patterson has also done We Belong Together, a cover of Mariah Carey's hit, and says she is pleased with the airplay both songs have been getting.
"Right now, I am getting ready to release This Feeling on the Busy Bee Label and I am also going to be releasing my album soon," she says.
Though Keisha Patterson has not decided on a name for the upcoming album, she says fans are to expect "a fresh new sound. I want to make it interesting and somewhat upbeat. It will be a good mix between reggae and jazz."
