What makes a normal, healthy, intelligent girl turn her life into the gut-wrenching, mind-numbing, spirit-killing career of a jazz singer? I blame my parents. They could have been Neil Sedaka fans. Tammy Whine-ette. Even, I don't know, the Archies. But no. I had to listen to Ella, Lena Horne, Billie, Dave Brubeck and those whatcha-ma-call-it Marsallis brothers. I didn't even know talk radio existed until I was 12 and tall enough to reach the dial up there on the top kitchen shelf.

My mother even sang opera, for gawd's sake. Dad was in a band complete with Easy Rider moustaches. My brother went from keeping the beat on pots and pans to bangin’ on percussion instruments on stage.

When it came time to decide what I should do with my young life, I thought: 'I could be a dental hygienist, drive a brand-new Honda Civic, have a place of my own in the west end…' And then I thought…'Are ya frickin' nuts? I'm going to stay up late, singin' my heart out, get driven to gigs in a big pimped-out black car and live a whole lot closer to the action than that wimpy west end'.

So, to make that happen, I went to Grant MacEwan and got seriously into jazz. That diploma got me into International Jazz Studies at Michigan State. We're talking swirling vortex stuff here…singing with Rodney Whitaker's Jazz Band burned this stuff into my chromosomes. You know, the guy who kept the groove going in the Lincoln Jazz Orchestra for years? Well, he picked me to be his first and only International songstress under the direction of Ms. Sunny Wilkinson, the woman who helped me find my voice.

I spent a year fronting a quartet in Chicago, after appearing at 2006 Detroit International Jazz fest. After auditioning for Grammy award-winning Mack Avenue Records, I headed back to Edmonton, with a head full of new tunes and no band in my back pocket.

Then I get blind-sided by this little pack of tramps…I can only describe them as that feeling you have when you wake up after soaking in whiskey for a couple days. You know, you just want to swear off forever, but ten minutes later you're saying, "Hand me that Jack, let's get this party rollin'!"

As this former tree-planter hung with the boys, some magic on stage and in the studio happened. We even had Chris Andrew play on one of Oscar Peterson’s personal pianos! Throw in a few originals that yours truly used to strum out on guitar and voila! “Lady and the Tramps” was officially released in May 2011.
These days I make music with the best darn guitar player I’ve ever met. Clint Pelletier won a 2010 WCMA for Instrumental of the Year, and he got me to sing a few on the now infamous, “Hot Club Edmonton” album. Think I’ll stick with these boys when I’m not keeping the Tramps in line. A girls’ gotta sing whenever she wants, and this one’s got a lot of musical outlets!

So, help me make these musicians famous…Clint and the Tramps, so I can keep them right behind me, delivering that sweet torture they so richly deserve.