With two decades of live performing experience & a dynamic stage presence, this soulful singer delivers an incredible show! Whether it's an electrifying soul tune, an emotionally raw torch song, a contemporary crossover number or an intimate acoustic piece, Brandy Moore's powerful, expressive vocals continue to wow audiences & attract new fans. She performs as an intimate solo act with vocals and guitar, and she also sings lead vocals with "The Project", a dynamic Regina based band that covers everything from jazz to motown.
In January 2011, Brandy returned home from a three week visit to Nashville to record her fifth independent CD (her first featuring a full band). Nashville is most known for country music, but every genre of music is represented and nurtured there. It's an exciting place, with all kinds of music playing most nights of the week in a variety of venues. Brandy was able to work with some incredible players on this project including George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby & the Range), Mike Loudermilk (Crystal Gayle, Chet Atkins), Roy Vogt (Dickey Betts, Stan Lassiter), Eric Bikales (The Pointer Sisters, Neil Sedaka), Phil Kenzie (Al Stewart, The Eagles, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney), Fred Satterfield (The Oakridge Boys, Scotty Moore, Dirty Little Secret), Jim Tract (The Pointer Sisters, Richard Perry), Kim Parent (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw), and LaLa Deaton (Sweetwater Rose).
Brandy's new CD "Real Good Love", released on Jun 8, 2011, is an exciting mix of adult contemporary, swampy blues & old school soul. For more info, click here: New CD
Brandy is now looking at doing more traveling with her singing. She recently performed in Mexico, and was invited back to perform this coming winter. She also has an opportunity to perform in a New York coffee house, as well as for several house concerts in New York and Connecticut. So she's organizing a live venue / house concert tour that will start with a kickoff concert in Regina in early October, then take her eastward to New York and Connecticut, then southwest down through Tennessee (Nashville and Memphis), then Austin, TX, and then into Mexico from there. She'll eventually come back up through Arizona, then over to the US west coast, then up through Vancouver, before heading back across western Canada toward Regina once again.
She's also looking at organizing a European tour for sometime in 2013/2014, thanks to the excellent iTunes sales she's seen from that part of the world over the past few years.
Stay tuned!
FULL BIO:
Brandy gave her first public performance at the age of 10 in a small town talent show in Keremeos, British Columbia, Canada (about 40 minutes drive from Penticton in the beautiful Okanagan Valley). She sang an acapella version of "Love Is Like A Butterfly" by Dolly Parton and won second place prize behind a rock band from the local high school.
Brandy's parents listened to a wide variety of music. There was always something playing on the stereo. Barbra Streisand, Tom Petty, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Warnes, JJ Cale, The Beatles, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Crystal Gayle, Aretha Franklin, Don Williams, AC/DC, Bob Seger, Peggy Lee and Neil Diamond were just some of the artists in her parents large and varied collection. The radio airwaves in the 70's and 80's brought even more variety, and Brandy was constantly singing along to songs. She also spent hours singing acapella down an old well on her family's property (it had a great echo).
At 14 (now in Fort McMurray, AB) Brandy began performing songs at school functions, with fellow students accompanying her on piano. At 15, she picked up her first guitar and was soon accompanying herself. She left northern Alberta at 17 to move to BC's west coast and enrolled in her final year of high school. Before the school year began, she entered the "18 yrs & under" category in J.R. Country's Talent Contest in Vancouver, and came in second place behind a young Lisa Brokup, who was just starting out in country music. During grade 12, Brandy wrote her first song, "Love is Gonna Shine". She took every available opportunity to perform for school functions, including a live performance at her grade 12 graduation, and the faculty awarded her a scholarship to attend the Commercial Music program at Capilano College in North Vancouver. She studied voice, ear training, choir, piano, songwriting and jazz history. She also continued to build her guitar skills through private lessons and jamming with fellow musicians on the side.
After she left college, some friends gave her copies of Etta James' "Seven Year Itch", and Bonnie Raitt's "Collection" album. She fell head over heels for R&B and was soon showing up at various blues jams around the lower mainland to wail out songs by Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Koko Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave and more... She spent the next decade working in offices during the day and performing live (solo and with bands) around the lower mainland on weekends. Her first independent CD featuring vocals and guitar was released in 1999 and Brandy was soon selling dozens of copies at her live performances.
In 2001, Brandy followed a relationship to Regina, Saskatchewan. She quickly immersed herself in the local music scene by attending Saturday afternoon jams around the city, and began busking with her amp in Regina's downtown Victoria Park during weekday lunch hours. Brandy sold a large volume of CDs this way and quickly became known by Regina's downtown workers. She later moved to the Scarth Street Mall where the foot traffic was heavier. When winter came, she made arrangements to perform inside the Cornwall Center as well as the Southland Mall, providing free musical entertainment in exchange for the privilege of selling her CDs. As a result of all this constant public exposure, more opportunities began to come her way. Some of her achievements since coming to the prairies include national CBC radio airplay, the release of 3 more independent CDs featuring vocals and guitar, and her latest CD release "Real Good Love" featuring a full band. She's also had multiple bookings in various festivals and venues around Saskatchewan, including the Regina Folk Festival, the Mid-Winter Blues Festival, the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, the Montmartre "All Folk'd Up" Festival, and regular appearance at Casino Regina, including opening for Juno award winner Sue Medley in the show lounge.
In 2005, Brandy was invited to perform the Canadian National Anthem for the Embassy of Canada's inauguration ceremony in El Salvador, Central America. She spent the next four months traveling throughout the country performing in small town fiestas as well as the beautiful Teatro de Santa Ana (Theatre of Saint Ana), where artists such as Leona Boyd regularly appear. The audiences in El Salvador often requested English movie song themes. The American movies they watched would have Spanish subtitles but they loved the English theme songs and would sing them all by heart. The songs most requested were The Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On" and The Bodyguard's "I Will Always Love You", and Brandy was happy to sing them. Performing for the beautiful, friendly people of El Salvador is something Brandy will always remember.
Brandy left El Salvador and flew straight to Montreal to explore the city & its music scene. She attended the Montreal Jazz Festival for the first time and was thrilled to catch The Neville Brothers, Patty LaBelle, Deborah Cox, Jully Black, Sylvie Desgrosseillers, Jack Soul, Kim Richardson, Carla Thomas, Al Jareau and Roberta Flack all performing live, and all on the same night! It was an amazingly inspirational start to her first experience of Montreal. She spent the next several months working and exploring in and around the city before returning home to the prairies in 2006 to continue performing, writing songs and building her music career.
Not long after returning to Regina, Brandy began working with The Project, a dynamic and versatile band of musicians who enjoy covering a wide variety of genres. The Project features Jay Harman (guitar), Tim Holt (guitar), Ron Westman (bass) and Gerry Galloway (drums). They work as an instrumental group that occasionally invites additional instrumental guests to join them. They also back up several local vocalists in town. Brandy works with The Project regularly at both public and private functions, covering everything from jazz standards to adult contemporary, soul, funk & motown. They also perform their own originals, as well as Brandy's.
In the summer of 2010, Brandy was invited to sing backups for the VIP tent rock band "Fran Moran and the Nervous Wrecks" at the Craven Country Music Jamboree (about 30 minutes outside of Regina, SK). It was here that she met Eric Bikales, a talented and accomplished keyboard player from Nashville, TN who currently works with Neil Sedaka, and formerly The Pointer Sisters. After hearing Brandy sing, Eric invited her to come down to Nashville to record in his studio sometime. Nashville is most known for country music, but just about every genre of music is represented and nurtured there. It's an incredibly amazing place, with many types of music playing most nights of the week in a variety of venues.
A couple of months after Brandy sang at Craven, she contacted Eric to arrange a mini trip down to Nashville, with the intention of recording a 3 song demo. Eric suggested she do at least 4 songs to make the trip worthwhile. Soon after that, the project grew into a 5 song EP project. Brandy was very excited about the prospect of doing this EP with a full band of Nashville session players backing her up. Then a complete stranger who'd recently purchased Brandy's 4th CD "To Make You Feel My Love" from iTunes contacted her by email. She said she'd like to help by underwriting a portion of the costs for the new CD, and the project grew into a full length 10 song recording. The timing was magical. And, if that wasn't exciting enough, Brandy also learned that Bonnie Raitt's current guitar player, George Marinelli, would be playing on her CD. Since Brandy is a huge Raitt fan, and the opportunity to work with her guitarist put her over the moon. One by one, more fantastic players were brought into the mix. It was a magical unfolding of events. Brandy's trip to Nashville changed from one week to three and she had the time of her life recording her first full production CD with each of these talented musicians: George Marinelli (Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby & the Range), Mike Loudermilk (Crystal Gayle, Chet Atkins), Roy Vogt (Dickey Betts, Stan Lassiter), Eric Bikales (The Pointer Sisters, Neil Sedaka), Phil Kenzie (Al Stewart, The Eagles, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney), Fred Satterfield (The Oakridge Boys, Scotty Moore, Dirty Little Secret), Jim Tract (Richard Perry, The Pointer Sisters), Kim Parent (Faith Hill, Tim McGraw) and LaLa Deaton (Sweetwater Rose).
Brandy released her new CD in Regina on Jun 8, 2011 and intends to do more traveling with her singing. She recently performed in Mexico and was invited back to perform this coming winter. She also has an opportunity to perform for a New York coffee house, as well as for several house concerts in New York and Connecticut. So she's begun organizing a live venue / house concert tour that will start with a kickoff concert in Regina in early October 2013, then take her eastward to New York and Connecticut, then southwest down through Tennessee (Nashville and Memphis), then down to Austin, TX, and then down into Mexico to see friends and do some performing. She'll eventually come back up through Arizona, then over to the west coast, up through Vancouver, and then back across western Canada to do a homecoming show in Regina in April 2013.
She's also looking at organizing a European tour for 2013/2014, thanks to the excellent iTunes sales she's seen from that part of the world over the past few years.
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