Michelle Rounds

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Michelle Rounds
File:Michelle Rounds jazz vocalist.jpg
Michelle Rounds, jazz vocalist
Background information
Birth name Michelle Rounds
Born (1962-04-29) April 29, 1962 (age 61)
Sydney, Australia
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Years active 1990–present
Labels
Website michellerounds.com

Michelle Rounds (born 29 April 1962) jazz vocalist is a Pacific Island singer-songwriter, recording artist, performer and voice teacher.

Early life

Born in Sydney, Australia, the eldest daughter of five children to Barbara May (Bennet) and John Victor Rounds, Rounds was brought up in a musical environment with her architect father being a professional singer, guitarist and composer, and her grandmother Bonita (Latu), a multi-instrumentalist and singer, who had the first all-girl band in Suva, Fiji in the early 1940s.[1]

Her father's youngest brother, Victor Rounds, is a Sydney bassist. Rounds's mother is descended from European pioneers of the Rai Valley, South Island, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and her father was of Fijian, Tongan and Samoan ancestry - her grandmother was Tongan.

Her family moved to Fiji from Australia when she was 11, where they lived for 8 years. Over the years she has lived and performed in numerous cities around the world, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia; Suva, Fiji Auckland, New Zealand; Miyazaki, Japan; and Cairo, Egypt, where she has collaborated with local musicians and artists.

Career

Rounds has a wide vocal range and is known for her innovative scatting which is more like instrumentation than singing. As quoted by Amira El-Naqeeb in her article Street and Sophisticated, "she posses a voice that takes one's breath away".[2]

She has currently released 6 albums and been featured on 4 collaborative albums[3] and is a staunch supporter of using native language and dialect, and of collaboration with local musicians and singers ~ she wrote and released "Let Me See Now" in 2005 which features Japanese rap artists Steal & Shorty[4] who rap in Japanese and for which a music video was also released, and in 2014 released "Time & Space"[5] with Egyptian youth, Lil.garhy, who raps in Arabic and at the time of recording was 17 years old. In 1998 she won a Te Reo Award from TVNZ for her cover of Fijian classic Era Bini Tu. This award is given to people who are using indigenous languages in their music and thus keeping the languages alive.

She regularly works with Nabil Khemir, Cesar Mora, and in the Australasia region with Tom Mawi.[6]

She has been performing in Cairo, Egypt since 2009,[7] and has performed at the Cairo Opera House, Kempinski Nile Hotel,[8] El Sawy Culturewheel,[9] and is a regular performer at Cairo Jazz Club.[10] In 2014 she began giving vocal training to Egyptian children and adults.[11] Her vocal sessions involve healing work and all round support of the individual to assist them in becoming the best artist possible. She believes in mentoring and supporting new artists and has demonstrated this over the years.

Personal life

Rounds resides in Cairo, Egypt where she lives with her husband. She teaches and tours extensively and continues to support new artists and the use of indigenous and local languages.

Discography

Original work

  • Culture Cross
  • Tongue Tied

Original lyrics

  • Am I In Love?
  • Subconscious Blues
  • Time & Space
  • Draw Blood
  • Coming In
  • Inna Captive Place
  • Love's Dirge
  • Standing in the Rain
  • You Are
  • You'll Find

Awards

  • Te Reo Award - New Zealand from TVNZ for Keeping It Real (Pacific National Volume 1) - 1998. This award is given to people who are using indigenous languages in their music.
  • Vakalutuivoce Award - Fijian music award from FPRA (FPRA was established under the guidance of APRA) 1996 - Best Album (Draw Blood) and Best Female Artist.[12]

Albums

  • Michelle Rounds and Her Amazing Friends - 2013.
  • Autumn Leaves - 2010 Spectra Records.
  • Coffee Time Jazz - 2005.
  • A Matcha Chocolate Love Adventure - 2005.
  • Contrasts - 1996. A collaborative project where Rounds took the finest of Fiji's singers, musicians and celebrities at that time and recorded with them. Included on this album is a duet with Bernadette Rounds Ganilau (Rounds's aunt) and Rounds singing the Miriam Makeba song I Still Long For You.
  • Draw Blood - 1994.

Featured on:

Labels

  • Spectra Records, USA
  • Cumquat Recordings/SPR, Fiji
  • Mangrove, New Caledonia
  • PI Inc, Japan
  • Michelle Rounds, Independent

Festivals

References

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External links

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