Gazele

The flamboyant and fun soul singer Gazele is going to be bringing her high energy and positive vibes to the launch of her debut EP tonight (Thurs Jun 18).

Reaching this point in her career has been a life long journey for the Australian born singer of Nigerian descent. “I was born into a a musical family so I’ve been singing all my life,” she said. As she grew older the supremely talented singer/songwriter decided to make the move from Canberra to Sydney to pursue musical studies at the Australian Institute of Music. The time spent there was invaluable in developing a personal sound: “It was a really safe place to work on my skill whilst being pushed by encouraging teachers and given helpful criticism.”

During her time studying the contemporary course at the Institute, Gazele was able to add some new and surprising influences to her style and repertoire: “Every term there was something different going from all of the different styles of jazz to world music and then to Aussie rock.”

In terms of her performance Gazele sights Jill Scott, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston as artist she has always looked up to, all for their own distinct reasons. “I really love how Jill tells a story…I love how Michael Jackson sings really rhythmically and percussively, using his voice to articulate different sounds and finally the epicene of Whitney’s voice just stops you in your tracks, especially the big power songs,” she said fondly.

More recently Gazele has spent time working alongside both Jessica Mauboy and Ms Murphy to which she credits both with teaching her the importance of “finding your own voice and style, because people fall in love with you for that.”

With all of these touchstones in her life Gazele was able incorporate a lot of these lessons into her EP Love Life. Whether that was in the form of making the decision to “ditch the first effort and start again” or to take a very hands-on approach in designing the cover art and arranging the launch show.

“It was challenging, having worked with so many artists on so many different styles of music, to go back and find my own style. But now I’ve got something that I think tells a story and I’m very excited to show it. Hopefully everyone comes away from my show and music with an experience.”

Jun 18, Rock Lily at The Star, 80 Pyrmont Rd, Pyrmont, Free Entry, gazelemusic.com