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My love for making music began at NuGroove Records where - in a bare bones studio - a group of us, singers, DJs and musicians assembled to create some of the most cutting edge and truly innovative music of the time - transcending the limits of categorization, we experimented with new sound technologies and explored the limitless possibilities of merging genres: dub with trance, reggae with rare groove, ambient with hard house. We were all there for the same reason, pure joy, pure authentic love for the music and belief in its transcendent power.

At the time I was incorporating improvisational dance in my performances when I toured under the moniker 'Vandal' with my then musical partner Peter Daou. We played at L.A.'s first massive 'rave' at the Shrine Auditorium along with Frankie Bones and Cosmic Baby. It was soon after that Columbia Records signed us as 'The Daou' and released 'Head Music'. The first single 'Surrender Yourself' was also the first song on the album, a song with a lyrical and musical imperative that has guided me ever since. 'Surrender Yourself' was remixed by Danny Tenagla - who was already a well known and much loved DJ in Miami, but who, of course, would go on to become legendary and truly loved and worshiped.

While 'Head Music' - a blend of acoustic rock, folk and jazz - was slowly brewing, 'Surrender Yourself' was digging its roots deep into the Underground and House music 'scenes' of New York & London, leading to a bit of confusion at Columbia Records as to how my second album "should" sound. Creative differences led me to deny their offer for a second album and go the indie route with Tribal/I.R.S. Records for my next single releases.

A spark of an idea, to transform the poetry of Erica Jong into song, led to 'Zipless' ... I always saw album making as an opportunity to to communicate a sense of the poetic aspects of existence, and with Erica's poetry, I learned from her love of language how to tease out some essence and truth in every word. When I hear that album, I can remember mostly how incredibly present I was with every breath, and that's the approach I would take with me making every album since.

I released 'Zipless' on my own label, and soon after Bob Krasnow signed me to his newly established label on MCA. The association with Bob Krasnow was ideal for me in many respects as Bob's A&R style was all about what was best for his artists - After a six week tour with Guru/Jazzmatazz & a press tour of Europe, 'Zipless' was well on its way... After a series of corporate turnovers and buyouts at MCA, Bob decided it was best for him to leave, and I negotiated out of my contract with MCA.

I decided to release my album independently, once again, along with my manager at the time, Benny Medina. We released 'Plutonium Glow' in 1997 and made the album available only online. At the time, Prince was the only artist to be doing this and seeing this potential for the internet. 'Dear John Coltrane' followed in 1998, and 'Make You Love' in 2000.

In that year, I recorded 'Make Believe', a duet with French Pop legend Etienne Daho, and released 'Make You Love' in France (EMI). I performed as Etienne's guest at the the Olympia Theatre in Paris for a one week sold out show. We spent 6 incredible weeks touring France, stopping to play just about everywhere, Marseilles, Rouen, Toulouse, Bordeaux...

Following September 2001, I've been documenting my life and experiences in the form of recorded snippets of songs, rough drafts of poems, finished and unfinished, sketches in pencil and acrylic which I used as material for my new album, 'Joe Sent Me' which I'll be releasing summertime '08.

Until then... enjoy the music!

XOVanessa