Singer/songwriter, rising superstar and multi-award winning Leoni Jane Kennedy originally from Blackpool, now based in London is celebrating her arrival to the US in New York, Nashville and wherever there’s a live gig to play. Her soulful vocals are described by fans as haunting and her guitar riffs majestic.
Leoni is a welcomed portal to something passionate and powerful. It is very hard to put yourself out there musically. It is very hard to be vulnerable, it is very hard to be authentic, but these people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world. Leoni is one of them. She’s daring, empowering and stays close to the edge without going over. While out on the edge, you can see all kinds of things that you cannot see from the center. The people on the edge see them first. Her poetry takes hold of humanity….
I had a conversation with Leoni regarding her career, her influences and her hopes of what the future holds…..
What made you come to America?
Good question. I’m still sort of jet lagged and trying to figure out what is happening. I have always loved America. I was brought up watching TV shows and as soon as I saw a cop car over here I was like NYPD. I was so excited. Â I loved it. The scene here is incredible and I have been a musician since I was a kid. I’ve always wanted to come over to the states and see what it’s like. It’s a totally different vibe here. The UK is vibrant but over here everyone seems so much more inviting. London can be very sort of isolated. Everyone’s in their own world. Over here everyone is super encouraging. We did an open mic night at a place called Nook in Brooklyn. And every single person was screaming for the performer. You do one song and you get off and they were like yeah that was amazing. It’s super cool. I think that’s how this happened actually, I came out to work with John Velasco. And Bob Golden he runs MD 25. Just seeing the sights. We played a venue called 89 North. That was incredible. They tried to get me into as many places as possible.
I heard you were on your way to Nashville. Is that true?
I am. We’re going tomorrow morning at 9:00. We will be there until the 8th of April. I think we will also be going to see a lot of shows.
You said you started singing at a very young age. What made you want to get into this really tough industry?
Well, you know you look at your favorite artist and you go I want to do that. It was Status Quo, actually one of the first bands. I don’t know if you know them. It was one of the first bands I saw and I was immediately thinking I need to do that. Also, I ended up going and playing with a local band in my Pub. So every Thursday night my mom would take me to the pub and I would play blues and old school music like ’60s and ’70s. An old man would be there playing these classic Tunes but also they did their original material. And the guitarist he was a crazy little dude actually. He was quite small with buck teeth and he sort of screamed as he was playing the solos. It was so funny and I looked at that and I thought this is what I want to do. I played with them for 6 years. So I woudl go there every Thursday and they would teach me everything that I know now. Also, they would show me their original stuff and he would show me how he was playing it. He had a really interesting way of doing things. I sort of picked up a lot from that.
And again you see your favorite artist doing things and you just follow along. I’ve just done a Rush cover album. That got me into the proxy so it was a gradual sort of improvement in classic blues rock. It’s always been a thing and I studied it in high school and college. I got interested in the psychological side of why we do things. I’m doing my masters in London. Just for the purpose of being in the music scene in London and it turned out to be quite beneficial. It’s given me sort of an idea of what I want in my career.
So where do you hope to be in 5 years?
I hope to be on a stage playing all of my original material to a lot of people. But doing it on a regular basis. That I could build a community around. Something that I love at the moment is called Yung Blud. He is a British Artist. He is something to really look for in terms of building a community. He is super engaging with his fans. He’s incredible. I’ve never seen somebody so dedicated to helping the people that look up to him. I’m all about community and I would love to build a community of thousands. It will happen because I am dedicated to making it happen. There is nothing else I want to do with my time. So in 5 years I want to be gigging. I want to be touring with my band and writing music with the best artists out there. I’m already kind of close to doing that thanks to John and Bob. I’ve not gone into a room to do it yet, but the fact that it is in place makes it exciting. I’m at a point where I know what I’m doing. I know that I could benefit from working with other people as well. I’m always up for a different experience. It could be in any genre.
What is your ultimate stage fantasy?
I love an experience. You know, like the modern EDM concerts where they have massive screens that look like people are popping out of them. I would love to create an experience with a concept sort of like a Pink Floyd or Genesis vibe. With my music channel stories and especially empowering women in music. That’s definitely something that I notice is not really a thing but being a female guitarist in a Rush cover scene are you kidding me? People have come up to me and gone, you shouldn’t be doing this because you’re a female. You shouldn’t be playing Rush, you can’t play Rush. And there I am shredding one of the solos on the guitar. So, I’m trying to bring that to light. Come on, it’s not like 50 years ago we needed to sort this out. If I had an Ultimate Fantasy on stage it would be to create an experience for an audience that they will go away and think about shit like this but also think like they can connect with the songs that I’m writing. I love storytelling. I didn’t have a dad growing up and I’ve noticed a lot of people that I’ve worked with and connect with the most always have some sort of dad issue. So, it would definitely be something I think I would lean into a little bit more.
The official website for Leoni Jane Kennedy may be found at https://www.leonijanekennedy.com
