THIS week we chat with locally-raised singer and force of nature Jess Chalmers (who you may have caught at last month\u2019s Rotary Carols). Her career highlights include performing as a backup vocalist at Robbie Williams\u2019 two sold out Rod Laver Arena concerts as well as his AFL Grand Final pre-match show in 2022.<\/p>\n
What motivated you to take up singing?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was one of those kids where I was singing before I was talking.<\/p>\n I always knew it was going to be my passion.<\/p>\n All through school I never wavered (and) when I was 17 I left Bendigo to go to Melbourne to do a music degree at Monash specialising in popular voice.<\/p>\n How would you describe your style?<\/strong><\/p>\n What I love to sing is my ultimate dream – soulful power ballads like Whitney Houston and Adele, where you’ve got the harmony underneath and you\u2019re belting it out.<\/p>\n I’ve always had a powerful, projected voice but it’s probably only the last couple of years that I’ve really honed in on that.<\/p>\n It takes a lot of practice – you do need to have correct posture and anchoring and make sure that your body is set up properly so that you can take in enough air and all of that.<\/p>\n A lot of what I was taught in university was how to sing safely and not hemorrhage your voice.<\/p>\n Which other singers inspire you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Adele and Whitney (Houston), 100 per cent.<\/p>\n I love Adele but Whitney, the actual music, it’s really soulful and there’s changes within the harmony that are really surprising.<\/p>\n In her heyday she could sing anything with so much grace and ease.<\/p>\n She was working so hard but it wouldn’t look like it.<\/p>\n It’s magical what she did.<\/p>\n Have you had any mentors over your career so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n Right out of uni I was lucky to start working for Chong Lim, who was John Farnham’s musical director for 25 years.<\/p>\n I met all of the John Farnham band and I worked with a couple of them on some gigs and learned a lot from watching them operate.<\/p>\n Chong taught me about how to get work and a lot of that was just to be a good person.<\/p>\n What are some fond memories you have from your time as a singer?<\/strong><\/p>\n The one that I always say, which I’m just so grateful for, was performing with Robbie Williams (in 2022).<\/p>\n I was able to do his two Rod Laver Arena shows, which was sold out with 15,000 people.<\/p>\n You could feel the crowd on top of you. It was amazing.<\/p>\n Then of course (we) did the AFL Grand Final with the most stellar band in front of 100,000 people. Incredible.<\/p>\n