Chelsea Palermo

Many nine-year-old girls have musical idols. However, very few are also gifted with perfect pitch, and possess a burning desire to follow in the footsteps of their idols. Chelsea Palermo is anything but ordinary. As a little girl, gifted jazz vocalist Chelsea Palermo, was fascinated and inspired by a legend: Ella Fitzgerald.

New Jersey native Chelsea Palermo is only 22 years old, but she is already a seasoned performer and interpreter. While she listened to Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey as enthusiastically as her friends, Palermo never saw anything unusual about adoring Ella Fitzgerald at such a young age.

“When I was a kid, I was drawn to the energy of pop music and R&B�"and I always will be,” Palermo said recently, “However, I also appreciated the sophistication and nuance of jazz�"and I always wished I could share that with my friends.”

Today, as Palermo celebrates the release of her debut studio recording, “All About Love,” she is hoping to do just that: to use her fresh, energetic take on the standards to help bring jazz to a whole new generation.

Her renditions of some of the greatest works in the American songbook are entirely unique�"noted as much for the maturity of their execution as for the youth and vibrancy they display. Not many artists who tackle “My Funny Valentine” have a genuine appreciation for Gwen Stefani.

Palermo already shows signs of making her leap successfully. Training with renowned vocal coach, Gwen Moten, who has trained stars like Janet Jackson, Chelsea’s repertoire has reached an unbelievable 200 songs. Now, after years of studying Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong, it should come as no surprise that this young natural can scat with the best.

People are beginning to take notice. She opened for both Gato Barberi (at Englewood’s bergenPAC) and Bob Baldwin (at the Two River Theater in Red Bank),, Chelsea performed for a national radio audience on the Joey Reynolds Show, broadcast on WOR in New York receiving rave reviews.

Additionally, she has taken the stage at the PNC Bank Arts Center, the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, and Bruce Springsteen’s music venue, The Stone Pony. For the past two years, Chelsea has sung at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey Governor’s Mansion at the annual, statewide D.A.R.E. fundraiser and with Chris Botti at the begenPAC. She has also lent her voice to last year’s Power of Pink cancer fundraiser, which featured Lynn Redgrave as the evening’s emcee.

Now available for purchase, Palermo’s debut recording, was released by A major Record Company and features tracks such as “If I Give You My Love,” “La Vie En Rose,” and “Fine and Mellow.” The album includes performances by special guests Warren Vaché on trumpet and Latin percussionist Luisito Quintero.

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