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Pictured above: Carrie. ©Andrew Kochanowski
"What a tremendous voice Carrie has!"--ABC Radio (WJR), by host Frank Beckmenn
"Lady Sings the Blues. The best in classic rock was always that which was derived directly from the blues. Cream. Led Zeppelin. Black Sabbath. These bands knew where it was at and they went there. So it is with Jackie Blue." --JJ Koczan, The Aquarian newspaper, New York and New Jersey
"Aw yeah! I love this band. This girl is a Janis Joplinite without trying to be. She has a voluptuous voice. She's not even trying to be wan and fragile like Dido or Jem. She's rock and roll." --Rev. Billy Jesus, Chicago, Illinois. |
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The Band, Biography & History
The Band Click on each member for their individual bio Carrie: Lead vocals Chris: Lead guitars, backing vocals Rick: Lead drums Tom: Bass, keyboard, drums, guitar, backing vocals
Biography Picture the misguided notion of Janis Joplin as lead singer of Led Zeppelin, stir in some Red Hot Chili Pepper funk and you'll have the essence of Jackie Blue.
Quick Facts 1. Performed over 100 concerts in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus (Ohio), Morristown (New Jersey) and Toms River (New Jersey). 2. Released 3 CDs with the 4th on the way 3. Airplay on over 100 radio stations, in the U.K. and U.S. 4. Over 90,000 song plays on Myspace and 18,000 friends 5. The Blu Kru, our dedicated event merchandising and street team, actively promotes our shows and coordinates advertising with local radio and press to bring more people to your venue. 6. Raised over $9,000 for Hurricane survivors by founding the Music Tour Network and expanding Jackie Blue's "Sound & Vision Musicals" 7. Michigan State University podcasts Jackie Blue’s song “Help Me Breathe” on the “Enlightened Spartan” sports show. 8. ABC radio network hosts Jackie Blue live on the “Mitch Albom Show.” 9. “Got Milk?” Jackie Blue wins the 2003 Battle of the Bands (Detroit)! 10. Just Plain Folks (Grammy awards for independent artists) nominates Jackie Blue song for “2002 Best R&B Song” award
History Formed during May 2000 in Detroit, Nailing Betty bass player Tom Libertiny and Pharmacy bass player turned guitar player Chip Thomas founded Jackie Blue. From advertisements on local websites and newspapers they hooked up with Todd Laucombe on drums and Brent McKay on lead vocals.
Jackie Blue's first CD "Behind Me" was released on 2001 April 16 after being recorded at Tom and Todd’s homes. It was written musically so that each song stood on it's own--A song for every day or mood. Lyrically, each of song reflects personal and political themes--From the story of a classic "lady of the night" in "Detroit Queen," to a celebration of our singer's young son in "G" (written for Gabriel), to the need to use the power of the media to help the poor and downtrodden in "Channel 5." We even wrote the "I.B. Waltz, Virginia" as a tongue-in-cheek country song for some of our southern friends (you know who you are).
On 2001 March 24, in Pontiac, Michigan, our friends Chip Thomas and Brent McKay chose to leave the band for personal reasons. Although we wished them well, it was a tough blow to have them leave.
Tom & Todd started rebuilding the band during the spring of 2001 by advertising in the Detroit Metrotimes newspaper and on several internet websites. We were fortunate to find the guitar playing, globetrotting, funkster himself: Chris Mick. Now as a three piece, we spent the summer, fall, and winter of 2001 playing with a variety of singers. But, lightning did not appear to be striking twice.
Having gone through 52 auditions, Todd described it best: "We were in singer hell." When we first hooked up with Chris, there was an instantaneous connection both musically and personally and we were looking for the same in a singer. On 2002 February 11, Carrie Firth walked into our lives. And lightning had struck twice. Ironically, Jackie Blue was Carrie’s very first band and the connection almost didn’t happen since everyone was ready to shoot themselves after trying out 52 singers. With Carrie, we had our first indication that the number “53” would become a very important number to the band.
Now as a four person writing team and band, the songs came fast and furious. Writing and recording over 20 songs and whittling them down to the ones you hear on our second CD “Complexification: Part II” was a lot of sweat but well worth it for us (released 2002 September 30). A lot of the pent up energy and frustration is captured here, so seek your doctor's opinion prior to using this CD or any other prescription medication.
On 2002 August 22 Todd decided to leave the band. Rick Schneider, Tom’s band mate from Nailing Betty, was recruited to play lead drums and add his own sarcastic, smart ass sense of humor. The band played many shows including CDBaby.com “TourBaby” Tour and won the “Got Milk’ battle of the bands. On 2004 March 13, Rick departed and we were back to three members.
It was back to the web and newspapers in search of a drummer. And 53 auditions later, we had our funk-man in the form of David Dupuie. David had just returned from Nashville, Tennessee, after playing with hip-hop artist Buda Full of Rhymes. Jackie Blue’s first show with David was on 2004 July 3rd at Brandon’s in Ortonville, Michigan.
In 2006, after doing a live radio interview with "Princess" from WIDR in Kalamazoo, Michigan, she selected our song "City Nights" to put into rotation at her station. In honor of her, Jackie Blue dedicated and recorded our live performances during our 2006 shows in New York and New Jersey. We then released on CD single and down load of "City Nights Live--The Princess Mix."
But why leave things as they are? In 2006, both Chris and David departed Jackie Blue...and then there were two. What do you do with a lead singer and bass player besides create the bastard child of the White Stripes? Well, you just follow this well thought out process: 1) Recruit guitar wiz Big Wave Dave Buzzeo who Tom played with in bands beginning in undergrad school. 2) Audition an untold number of drummers (untold, because we don't remember how many). 3) Select one drummer. 4) Play a few shows. 5) Drummer departs 6) Select a second drummer. 7) Play a few shows. 8) Drummer departs. 9) The obvious next move: Tom switches from bass to drums. 10) Finally the three of us get set for the long gruel of finding our new bass player--which as you would expect, takes us exactly one audition. And his name: Davis. Jeffrey Davis. Happy Febtober to us all!
On 2007 July 28, following the Ultimo Show at the Bullfrog, Redford, Michigan, Jackie Blue decided to take a vacation.
And then during 2007 December, the Ultimo lineup of Jackie Blue was formed to record and release a new album. Stay tuned...
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