FOR many youngsters, teenage rebellion means starting a band, staying out late and living a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. But Jessica Lee Morgan? She hit the books instead.
The talented musician is the daughter of Welsh singer Mary Hopkin and American-Italian producer Tony Visconti, and growing up meant a steady stream of musical legends popping in and out of her house.
Her first guitar was from Joe Brown, and was used in a school performance. Other big names taught her new chords, and before you knew it, she was fluent in guitar, saxophone, ukulele and kazoo, as well as having a stunning voice.
As a teenager, she joined her Dad in Holy Holy, now called Tony Visconti’s Best of Bowie. The supergroup also features Woody Woodmansey (Spiders from Mars) and Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), as well as Paul Cuddeford, James Stevenson and Janette Mason.
She started as a backing singer in 2015, before playing the saxophone and guitar for the show.
“I’ve done 95 shows with them,” she says, modestly leaving out that these have been all over the world.
“It’s amazing performing with my Dad, but he won’t let me get away with anything,” she laughs. “It’s immensely satisfying.”
Her most recent album, Two Hearts, is a collaboration with her mother, Mary who represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 with Knock, Knock Who’s There, and also hosted her own prime-time BBC1 series the same year.
“Two Hearts has been forever in the making,” Jessica says of the team-up. “We’ve been singing together all my life.”
Add in that guitar from Joe Brown, and this is how her own musical journey began: “I started with learning standards. Mum taught me a few, and we harmonised together.
“We have been writing together over the years, something very special and it’s a really nice, cathartic process.
“It can also be stressful as you’re working with someone you’re emotionally connected with. We have high standards in my family – we’re all perfectionists, as is my partner Christian, who did the engineering for the album.
“It has to be the best you can possibly do, but it is also incredibly satisfying.”
With all this music, how did Jessica rebel?
Growing up in the Reading area – she was born in the Royal Berks, went to school locally and still lives here – Jessica was aware of her musical heritage, as were her fellow pupils.
“Kids don’t pull punches when it comes to it,” she recalls. “They imagined I was a stuck-up princess. I wasn’t at all.
“I tried to rebel, I turned to academia, had an English degree, and worked a nine-to-five job in the public sector for 15 years… but music kept talking to me.
“It came back to bite me, and it feels like a calling. I think I’ve embraced it.”
But … Jessica’s gig at The Rising Sun Arts Centre on Friday, October 27, is one of the final chances to see her live for a while as she’s preparing to pause the performances so she can do something different.
“This is kind of my farewell for now. While the music never stops, the gigs are hard work, especially doing a seven-hour round trip to play. While it’s amazing, I need to take a break,” she says.
And during this break she intends to focus on teaching the Alexander Technique – a method of releasing unnecessary tensions to help give mind and body a rebalance – bringing it to rock ‘n’ roll musicians.
“The Rising Sun is farewell for now,” Jessica says. “I’ve performed there six times, and it is such a wonderful venue.
“It’s an amazing, great, shabby and wonderful building. It’s real. You can’t hide or anything there – and there are no frills … it’s an honest venue,” she says of the Silver Street performance space. “It’s very friendly, which is what it should be.”
And because it’s well … not the Hollywood Bowl, it will be a different performance experience, for both audience and musician.
“It feels like a conversation. They (the audience) can see you, you can see them,” Jessica says. “It allows people to make a connection.
“And it is honest.”
Support for the gig will come from WolfNote, a modern folk band, and singer-songwriter Alan Caruso.
It is being staged by Club Velocity and starts at 8pm on Friday, October 27. Tickets cost £8.80 including a booking fee.
For more details, or to book, log on to: www.wegottickets.com and search for Club Velocity Presents Jessica Lee Morgan
