Jem Biography
Summary
"Jemma Griffiths" (born June 18, 1975 in Penarth, nr. Cardiff, Wales), better known as "Jem", is a Welsh singer-songwriter known for her eclectic musical stylings. Her debut album has defied the categorization of some music critics with a fusion of genres. While some of her songs are straight up rock ballads, some of her tracks verge on New Wave styled electronica and trip-hop. Her throaty, mellow voice is similar in quality to Imogen Heap, Beth Orton, Sophie Barker and to a lesser extent Dido.
Along with electronic producer Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Frou Frou), she wrote the song 'Nothing Fails', which was later reworked by Madonna and appeared on her 2003 "American Life" album.
Biography
Beginnings
Although she began singing and writing songs at age thirteen in Swansea, Wales, she decided to head into law and attended Sussex University. However, she spent less time and energy on studies and focused on being a DJ agent (although she did eventually receive a degree in law). There in Brighton, she spent a lot of time promoting club nights, and helped set-up and run the specialist breaks label Marine Parade.
According to an interview article published on The Sun Online, Jem said she 'went to class as little as she could without being kicked out!'.
Jem left everything behind in November of 1999 and assembled a mobile studio where she further developed her songwriting and music production skills. During this period, she completed four demos that would eventually setup her career in the music industry.
From there, she moved to London where she collaborated with Guy Sigsworth, and then to Brooklyn to work with Ge-Ology (Mos Def, Talib Kweli). In the autumn of 2002 she met Yoad Nevo, who became her co-producer.
Career
Jem's solo career began in earnest in 2002, when a demo version of the song 'Finally Woken' was played on Los Angeles station KCRW. The track became one of the most listener-requested songs at the station, landing her in their top 5 played artists, and all prior to any record label being attached. As a result, Bruce Flohr was so impressed with her demos that he offered Jem a record deal onto Dave Matthews' ATO record label.
She was subsequently signed to the label ATO and released the moderately successful EP "It All Starts Here" in autumn 2003, followed by the album "Finally Woken" in March 2004.
Jem released the single '24' from "Finally Woken" on 2003 as a limited edition promo single. This single wasn't followed by a music video. The single 'They', from "Finally Woken", was released in the UK on 13 March 2005. This included an interpolation of the Swingle Singers's adaptation from 1963 of Bach's Prelude in F Minor from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier("c." 1720)
She simultaneously began receiving publicity in the US, as her music was featured on numerous television shows such as "The O.C."; "Desperate Housewives"; "Wonderfalls"; "Six Feet Under"; "Crossing Jordan"; "Grey's Anatomy"; and Wish I was used as the theme tune to the ITV show Celebrity Love Island.
Jem is currently working on her next album with the producers Jeff Bass and Lester Mendez. The album will be released sometime in 2007.
Influences
According to Jem's official site, her influences are wide ranging and extend into almost all genres of music. She describes her inspirations as a 'strange mix of soul, hip hop, reggae, dance music, film soundtracks, classical music and cheesy love songs', from Stevie Wonder to the soundtrack of the Braveheart movie.
Discography
Albums
"Finally Woken" 24 March 2004"#6" (UK); "#197" (US)
EPs
"It All Starts Here" 13 October 2003
Singles
'They' - 2005 "#6" (UK); "#38" (AUS);
'Just a Ride' - 2005 "#16" (UK)
'Wish I' - 2005 "#24" (UK)
Trivia
Jem's song It's Just A Ride was inspired by comedian Bill Hicks.
Jem owns the vinyl imprint label CrazyWiseMusic (... more)
Jem made a special appearance singing at Julie and Caleb's wedding reception in The O.C.'s season 1 finale episode, The Ties That Bind.
Chloe, Justin and Georgia are Jem's siblings. Justin and Georgia are vocals of the band The Weapons (... more) .
Jem performed live at: KCRW Radio (2002, 2004), WOXY (2004), Popworld (2005), Glastonbury (2005), Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (2005), Sasquatch! Music Festival (2005), V Festival (2005), Top of the Pops (2005).
The UK version of They music video was nominated for Annual Music Videos Awards Show 2005 on category 'Direction of a New Artist.' (... more)
The little girl on the cover of It All Starts Here is a picture of her older sister, Chloe, that was taken by her mother.
The little girl on the cover of Finally Woken (UK version) is a picture of a young Jem that was taken by her father.
Some of her songs featured on various movies, TV shows and commercials:
External links
(Jem Zone)
"They" il based upon 'Preludio in Fa minore' by JS Bach (... more) in the link there are comparison .mid files.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Jem.
