Jess Klein (born 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. A native of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...

, Klein learned to play acoustic guitar and started writing songs as a college student in Kingston, Jamaica, while working on a thesis "documenting dub poets and studying the musical landscape of that country." Klein moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

upon her return home, and began performing locally. After independently releasing her first two albums, winning the Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest, and garnering several Boston Music Award nominations, she was signed to

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

in 2000 by then-president George Howard. Klein's first release for Ryko, ''Draw Them Near'', launched Klein on a worldwide tour where she performed before 70,000 attendees at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Returning to the U.S., Klein joined the songwriter collective Voices on the Verge, along with

Erin McKeown Erin McKeown (pronounced ) is an American multi-instrumentalist and folk-rock singer-songwriter. McKeown's music encompasses pop, swing, rock, folk, and electronic music, as well as several other genres. Music career They grew up in Frederi ...

, Rose Polenzani, and Beth Amsel. The foursome performed Klein's song "Little White Dove" on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

''. Klein's second solo effort for Ryko, ''Strawberry Lover'', was produced by RCA recording artist

Marc Copely Marc Copely is an American rock and blues guitarist and songwriter. Described as "...a working-class hero of stadium-sized potential", Copely has been performing since the age of 19. The Worcester, Massachusetts born musician, launched his profe ...

. It debuted as the number-one most-added album at triple A radio a week before its release, was given four stars by ''MOJO'', and received a plug from the nearly 80 million readership ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

''. In 2005, Nerdcore Rapper

MC Frontalot Damian Hess (born December 3, 1973), better known by his stage name MC Frontalot, is an American rapper and web designer. Hess began releasing music as MC Frontalot in 1999. His first successes came through Song Fight!, an online songwriting an ...

posted on his website a rap breakdown using the beat from the Jess Klein song "Soda Water". Klein's sixth album, ''City Garden'' (five stars, ''MOJO'' Magazine) caused the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' to describe her as "Quite simply one of the most gifted performers this area has produced."

Discography

*''Wishes Well Disguised'' (1998) *''Draw Them Near'' (2000) *''Flattery'' (re-released in 2003) *''Strawberry Lover'' (2005) *''City Garden'' (2006) *''House of Satisfaction'' (2007) *''Bound to Love'' (2009) *''Behind a Veil'' (2012) *''Learning Faith'' (2014) *''Bootleg'' (2015) *''Back to My Green'' (2019)

References

External links

Official WebsiteInterview on the ATX Architects Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Jess 1974 births Living people American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New York (state) American folk musicians Hamilton College (New York) alumni Musicians from Rochester, New York 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers