Sharon Sky
Sharon Sky has been on the greater-Boston music scene for some time now. Her forays into rock, country rock, R&B, and now singer-songwriter material have always proved fruitful. Having new original material helped qualify her to be selected to appear that the next Chick Singer Night event, happening at The Burren in Somerville, Massachusetts on November 17th at noon time. CSN directors Jennifer Truesdale and Marcia Ridings-Macre showcase women artist at their fall and spring events. Sky’s visibility and talent seem to scream out the qualities that are needed to be selected.
“It’s great. It’s a huge honor. I feel very lucky to be invited to sing with all the great singers and songwriters and musicians who will be there,” Sky said. “I’ve known Jennifer Truesdale for a short while. There’s like a network of women who sing in this area. Jennifer is friends with Kelly Riley who used to be my vocal coach. Lori Zuroff, who I sing with currently in Midtown Horns, actually introduced me to Jennifer when we sang for Marcia at the benefit last year. I’ve been privileged to be brought into this circle of female singers in the Boston area. It’s wonderful.”
Sharon Sky
Sky has a plan in mind for her Chick Singer Night appearance. She will perform an original titled “Teddy Bear” which she wrote several years ago. She will also tackle a couple of covers, “St. Theresa by Joan Osborne and Amy Whinehouse’s rendition of “Valerie.” While Sky has never performed at songwriter showcases in the past, she recently started a songwriting partnership with Evan Korn, a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Calling themselves Sky & Korn, the duo have only played their originals twice. Their music is an amalgamation of Latin guitars, Latin rhythms, Balkan rhythms, Greek rhythms, and a progressive rock influenced. They can play as a duo, trio, and or a full band.
“It sounds that challenge the ears of the listener a little bit,” she said. “It’s kind of a fusion sound and we’re experimenting with different instrumentation for it. We can go more world music with it or more rock. We played a world music version of it recently at Azucar in Maynard. We’re going to play a rock version of it December 13th at Union Tavern in Somerville.”
Sky and her songwriting partner Korn now have nine songs with two in progress after beginning six months ago. Aside from that duo project, Sky rocks out with Midtown Horns, a busy R&B band that gigs all over Massachusetts. She sings backing vocals with a few lead vocal appearances here and there.
“It’s a really fun band to perform with,” she said. “It’s a big band and sometimes we get lucky and get a big stage. It’s been really good for showmanship chops. It’s been a lot of fun. Lori Zuroff is in that band as well, and she brought me into that band. There’s a lot of wonderful musicians in that band.”
Sharon Sky
Sky said her soul is divided between being a rocker chick and a sensitive singer-songwriter. She enjoys the variety of music that boils up to the surface between those two cauldrons of sound. She has been trained how to use a full voice sound effectively for R&B and rock and roll. “Sometimes it’s hard to know which way to go,” she said.
Sky grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana Unveristy’s Jacobs School of Music, a competitor of Julliard School of Music in New York City. In addition to training numerous classical musicians and jazz musicians, the college offers intensive training programs for children with advanced interest in performing. Sky, at a young age, gained a chance to be part of the school’s children’s chorus.
“I started out learning difficult musical parts and harmonies at a very young age,” she said. “I always wanted to sing rock music but never really got the chance until much later. I had to retrain my voice because the techniques involved are very different. The breathing is the same and the basic support is the same. Someone introduced me to the Bristol Voice Method, which was created by a Berklee graduate who now has a big studio in Boston. I trained in the Bristol Method to improve my rock, pop, R&B, country abilities.”
Those newer abilities lead her down a path to joining Midtown Horns, a big band that really gets around. They’re going to be the entertainment for a private party at Boston’s Encore Casino on December fth. On New Year’s Eve, Midtown Horms will entertain at Haverhill’s Yacht Club. “Midtown Horns is doing a lot of Earth, Wind, and Fire right now. Those arrangements are really interesting, and elaborate, and also fun. It’s a crowd pleasing show.”
Growing up in southern Indiana, Sky was immersed in the country music genre as well, and, country is another part of Sky’s repertoire. She finds it fulfilling to sing the fun stories that makes that genre what it is. This lead to her becoming a co-leader singer with Len Morrissey in The Mooseheads, which metamorphosized from her cover band Lexington Street out of Lynn, Massachusetts in 2009. “You sort of make a choice sometime with that genre,” she said.
Sky & Korn
For now, Sky will focus on her originals project Sky & Korn. Trying to create new sounds for that project and writing material for it has been a new kind of fulfillment. “Taking that project to the next level would be is where I hope to go from here,” she said.
Next week, Music fans can hear one of Sky’s original song at the Chick Singer Night showcase at Acoustic Chick Singer Brunch at The Burren; Somerville, Massachusetts. Noon to 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 17.
Chick Singer Night co-director, Jennifer Truesdale, is more than enthusiastic about Sky’s appearance. “We really like to feature local singer-songwriters, and I felt that Sharon’s music and vibe would be an excellent addition to this show,” Truesdale said.
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