Tessanne Chin

Tessanne Chin (born September 20, 1985) is a singer-songwriter from Kingston, Jamaica. She is the fresh soulful voice of a new generation of Jamaican musical talent. Her sultry fusion of Rock, Reggae and Soul, mixed with the heartfelt and conscious lyrics she pens herself, create a musical style that is uniquely her own. Her exceptional vocal talent and her exotic looks - a mix of Chinese, White, Cherokee Indian, and African heritage - give her an unmistakable stage appeal. She is the younger sister of recording artist Tami Chynn. Tessanne was introduced to music at a very early age by her parents. Her mother was the trumpeter/singer in a band called The Carnations and her father was the drummer. Tessanne started her stage career when she was six years old with Cathy Levy’s “Little People and Teen Players Club”, one of Jamaica's top performing arts schools. Most of her vocal coaching came from her mother, and also from noted vocal coach, Lecie Wright. Tessanne learned firsthand about cultural diversity when she moved to England at age 12. She devoted a lot of her time to songwriting to express her feelings about her new life, in what was to her, a completely different world. Upon her return to Jamaica, Tessanne joined the Jamaican Rock Band, Mile High and performed for crowds at numerous local venues, including Jazz Fest, Rock Fest, and RETV Unplugged. Tessanne left Mile High to pursue a solo career. She recorded tracks with producers Rudy Valentino and Paul Kastick. Creatively, she draws on the strengths of a diverse group of musicians, including Celine Dion, Pat Benatar, Diana King, Papa Roach, Bob Marleyand many more. With such powerful influences to inspire her, Tessanne is creating music with her own bold signature style. Songwriting for her is a very real, organic process, just some notepaper and her acoustic guitar. A purist at heart, she believes there is life and magic in live music that can't be duplicated using computer-generated tracks. As a solo act, Tessanne has already opened on stage for such musical greats as Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight, Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack, Atlantic Starr, and Boyz II Men. She also toured worldwide with Reggae legend, Jimmy Cliff, as a backup singer, for three years. It was during that time that her love for the road, music, and the stage was sealed. Over the past two years, Tessanne has performed on numerous shows in Jamaica such as the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, The Deck, Carlos Café, The Port Royal Music Festival, Welcome to Jamrock, Original Dancehall Jam Jam and her very own full set show 'Arabian Night' which featured Roots Underground as the opening act. She has also performed on various other gigs across the Caribbean, New York, Atlanta, Florida, Belize and Japan. Tessanne's debut single, Hide Away, has received heavy rotation on [tagJamaican[/tag] radio, as well as select stations in New York, Florida and Atlanta. The single and video has topped Jamaican singles and video charts respectively as well as MTV's Tempo Countdown. Her second single was the edgier 'Black Books' which has been followed by the conscious 'Messenger', her third single. Tessanne is currently in studio working on new material to be featured on her debut album which has not received a release date as yet. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.