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About Julissa

Julissa Veloz was born on September 8, 1988, in Newark, New Jersey. From the tender age of four, Julissa’s love for music was obvious. Her siblings remember her running around with a hair brush as a microphone singing along to whatever was on the radio. Her parents saw her potential as a vocalist and took her to auditions in local talent contests. At age 10, Julissa began taking voice lessons with distinguished opera singer Nadine Herman at Newark School of The Arts. During her training at Newark School of the Arts, Julissa sang for world famous pianist Dalton Baldwin who recommended Julissa to attend Julliard School of Music Preparatory College. In 2003, Julissa auditioned for the Jeffrey Carollo Scholarship in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Julissa competed against 500 participants from all over the country before being the first vocalist to receive the scholarship. Furthermore, in 2003 she also participated in one of the most prestigious music and theater programs, the Summer Youth Performance Workshop at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She decided expand her artistic career by majoring in theater instead of voice. Her creativity seemed to reach more than just the pages of her music notebook since most of the monologues and skits she wrote ended up being part of the theatrical pieces she and the rest of her cast later performed. All of these accomplishments at the age of just 14 years old and yet she still kept going. The end of 2003 brought a turning point in Julissa’s artistic career. She had to make the choice between the music she grew up loving and the music she grew to love. Julissa decided to switch from classical music to her true love R&B with an extra Latin spice. Still under the financial support of her scholarships, she was able to work with an eclectic music teacher named Inez McClendon who taught her how to put her heart and soul into every word she sung. After an abrupt move to Florida, Julissa was left without a teacher. After months of searching, Julissa was lucky to bump into music producer/teacher Gerry Williams who has worked with many artists such as Justin Timberlake, Celine Dione, Mandy Moore, and so .. working with Mr. Williams for only three months, Julissa was invited to be a part of the Global Peace Choir headed by Mr. Williams. A month later, she had the privilege to lead in two of the choirs songs. After a year with Mr. Williams, Julissa realized she needed to dust off her notebook of songs and poems and record a demo. Just one month later, two original songs, Feel the Music, an R&B Latin dance hit made to make everyone move their bodies, and Far from Me, a romantic love song of longing and hope, were ready to go and be heard by the world. Julissa is currently attending Rider University and taking private lessons with Anwar Robinson a season 2 American Idol finalist. Julissa is working hard to promote her demo and hopes to land a record contract with a recording company. Performance History: Performed in and won several Talent Shows. Dozens of Performances for the Newark School of the Arts Performed in various fairs and was a Miss Florida Latina candidate Pageant Finalist at Fashion Rock 2004 Sponsored by Lou Pearlman Finalist for the Lil Wayne Making the Next Hit (Show never aired) Leads in the Global Peace Choir Performances Performed at the annual Black Student Union Fashion Show sponsored by Cache and David’s Bridal. Classical Vocal Performance for the CEO’s of Prudential and Verizon and company on behalf of the Newark School of the Arts. Jeffrey Carollo Scholarship Performance in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Several plays for the Summer Youth Performance Workshop including “Roll Call” and “For Actor Types Who Considered Veganism when Theatrical Stew is not Enough” Several appearances on cable TV shows such as “Pipers Pics” and “The Fat Tom Show”. She is currently a contestant on American Idol and is headed to hollywood week.