Amazon.com Kelly Sweet was never a contestant on a TV singing competition, and she isn't the product of the latest svengali producer. Which, in 2007, makes her something of a rare new pop star. Her approach to the genre is pretty unexpected, too: Temperamentally, the flame-haired chanteuse falls somewhere between Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan, which is to say she's all softness, warmth, and sincerity. Vocally, she's a ringer for Amy Lee of the rock band Evanescence, minus the goth fixation. And categorically, her closest fit within the wide world of pop is classical crossover. Consider her the female Josh Groban then, with the multilingual skills to match: In addition to a haunting and miraculously un-awful rendition of Aerosmith's "Dream On," she busts out a French track, "Je T'aime," that sends out summery flutters; a Sanskrit song from the film "Gladiator," "Now We Are Free," that impresses with its depth of feeling; and an Italian number, "Giorno Dopo Giorno," that ripples with tenderness and sentimentality. Sweet is a songbird with a wide wingspan; her debut mostly soars. --Tammy La Gorce Product Description Kelly may be young but she's not short of experience or talent. Classically-trained from the age of 3 and able to sing in several languages, her music has already been captivating the industry and mainstream audiences for months, with her songs "We Are One" and "Ready for Love" appearing in episodes of network television shows. On her debut album, WE ARE ONE, Kelly includes a cover of Aerosmith's classic "Dream On". From the Artist "One of my first musical memories," she recalls, "is of me standing at the bay window in my house when I was three singing `I Will Always Love You.' I knew then that singing was something I just had to do - it was like eating and breathing for me. But it's always been so much more than people clapping and saying, `Oh, that was lovely.' There's a feeling I get when I sing that's like a freedom and a peace within myself. And I always felt like it was my purpose to impart that feeling to the rest of the world." Perhaps it was divine fate, then, that Sweet was born into a musical household (in Cape Cod, MA) one in which her jazz pianist father and her artist mother fostered a love and respect for music that began when she was an infant. "I was hearing music before I even came out of the womb," Sweet laughs. "My father was always playing the piano. And days after I was born while still in the hospital, my mother gently put headphones up to my ears...it was the sound of a tinkling piano." Raised on the jazz standards that were part of her father's repertoire, the singer gravitated to her Dad's side at the piano to learn musical notes soon after she could walk. Her first public performance followed, at when she was 4 years old, at the Cape Cod Conservatory. "I sang `When You Wish Upon a Star' and `I've Got No Strings' from Pinocchio," she says. "My father played piano for me. I was so excited." About the Artist At the age of 7, following her parent's divorce, Sweet and her mother moved to Kanab, UT. "My mother wanted to paint Utah," the singer explains about their adopted home state. "And Kanab was a really safe town. Five thousand people, one stoplight. Everybody knows you. My mom loved it." Ironically, it was in this tiny Southwestern desert outpost that Sweet and her mother began to plant the seeds that would lead to the serendipitous blossoming of the singer's professional career. Working regularly with a vocal coach, Sweet honed her skills as a performer by singing at state fairs, county festivals, and community theaters. "I was consciously trying to reach the world," Sweet says, "but I knew that I had to take it slowly. You can't all of a sudden go out and get a record deal. I was developing myself as an artist so that I would be ready when the time came." As the audience got larger, Sweet's aspirations grew. Sweet and her mother rented their home in Utah and went on the road for two years, traveling back and forth between Kanab, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in search of every performance opportunity. Barely 14, the singer opened for Kenny Loggins when his tour came through Las Vegas. And when her mom sent the Los Angeles Lakers a CD of her daughter singing, the team booked Sweet to sing the National Anthem three different times. One synchronistic encounter after another eventually led Sweet to a meeting with Grammy-nominated producer, arranger and songwriter Mark Portmann (Josh Groban, Celine Dion) in July of 2004. The meeting ended up being the most fateful appointment of her young career thus far. "Mark and I instantly got each other," she says. "We started working together immediately. Everything felt so natural. And we never really had to try to search for songs because they just came to us. One of the first songs Sweet recorded was an unlikely cover of the Aerosmith classic, "Dream On." "When I sang it, it just felt like magic." Indeed, Sweet turns the former, ISBN13: B000MKXF9Q ISBN10: B000MKXF9Q Material Type: audioCDAmazon.com Kelly Sweet was never a contestant on a TV singing competition, and she isn't the product of the latest svengali producer. Which, in 2007, makes her something of a rare new pop star. Her approach to the genre is pretty unexpected, too: Temperamentally, the flame-haired chanteuse falls somewhere between Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan, which is to say she's all softness, warmth, and sincerity. Vocally, she's a ringer for Amy Lee of the rock band Evanescence, minus the goth fixation. And categorically, her closest fit within the wide world of pop is classical crossover. Consider her the female Josh Groban then, with the multilingual skills to match: In addition to a haunting and miraculously un-awful rendition of Aerosmith's "Dream On," she busts out a French track, "Je T'aime," that sends out summery flutters; a Sanskrit song from the film "Gladiator," "Now We Are Free," that impresses with its depth of feeling; and an Italian number, "Giorno Dopo Giorno," that ripples with tenderness and sentimentality. Sweet is a songbird with a wide wingspan; her debut mostly soars. --Tammy La Gorce Product Description Kelly may be young but she's not short of experience or talent. Classically-trained from the age of 3 and able to sing in several languages, her music has already been captivating the industry and mainstream audiences for months, with her songs "We Are One" and "Ready for Love" appearing in episodes of network television shows. On her debut album, WE ARE ONE, Kelly includes a cover of Aerosmith's classic "Dream On". From the Artist "One of my first musical memories," she recalls, "is of me standing at the bay window in my house when I was three singing `I Will Always Love You.' I knew then that singing was something I just had to do - it was like eating and breathing for me. But it's always been so much more than people clapping and saying, `Oh, that was lovely.' There's a feeling I get when I sing that's like a freedom and a peace within myself. And I always felt like it was my purpose to impart that feeling to the rest of the world." Perhaps it was divine fate, then, that Sweet was born into a musical household (in Cape Cod, MA) one in which her jazz pianist father and her artist mother fostered a love and respect for music that began when she was an infant. "I was hearing music before I even came out of the womb," Sweet laughs. "My father was always playing the piano. And days after I was born while still in the hospital, my mother gently put headphones up to my ears...it was the sound of a tinkling piano." Raised on the jazz standards that were part of her father's repertoire, the singer gravitated to her Dad's side at the piano to learn musical notes soon after she could walk. Her first public performance followed, at when she was 4 years old, at the Cape Cod Conservatory. "I sang `When You Wish Upon a Star' and `I've Got No Strings' from Pinocchio," she says. "My father played piano for me. I was so excited." About the Artist At the age of 7, following her parent's divorce, Sweet and her mother moved to Kanab, UT. "My mother wanted to paint Utah," the singer explains about their adopted home state. "And Kanab was a really safe town. Five thousand people, one stoplight. Everybody knows you. My mom loved it." Ironically, it was in this tiny Southwestern desert outpost that Sweet and her mother began to plant the seeds that would lead to the serendipitous blossoming of the singer's professional career. Working regularly with a vocal coach, Sweet honed her skills as a performer by singing at state fairs, county festivals, and community theaters. "I was consciously trying to reach the world," Sweet says, "but I knew that I had to take it slowly. You can't all of a sudden go out and get a record deal. I was developing myself as an artist so that I would be ready when the time came." As the audience got larger, Sweet's aspirations grew. Sweet and her mother rented their home in Utah and went on the road for two years, traveling back and forth between Kanab, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in search of every performance opportunity. Barely 14, the singer opened for Kenny Loggins when his tour came through Las Vegas. And when her mom sent the Los Angeles Lakers a CD of her daughter singing, the team booked Sweet to sing the National Anthem three different times. One synchronistic encounter after another eventually led Sweet to a meeting with Grammy-nominated producer, arranger and songwriter Mark Portmann (Josh Groban, Celine Dion) in July of 2004. The meeting ended up being the most fateful appointment of her young career thus far. "Mark and I instantly got each other," she says. "We started working together immediately. Everything felt so natural. And we never really had to try to search for songs because they just came to us. One of the first songs Sweet recorded was an unlikely cover of the Aerosmith classic, "Dream On." "When I sang it, it just felt like magic." Indeed, Sweet turns the former, ISBN13: B000MKXF9Q ISBN10: B000MKXF9Q Material Type: audioCD , ISBN13: B000MKXF9Q ISBN10: B000MKXF9Q Material Type: audioCD