Jocelyn
Label: BMG
Type of Music: Pop/Singer-Songwriter
Management: Jeff McClain - Midlands Music Group
Booking: Jeff McClain - Midlands Music Group
Legal: Steven R. Lowy
Publicity: [email protected]
Web: jocelynmusic.com
A&R: Russell Gaskins - BMG
Trying to make it in the rough and tumble music biz jungle is never easy, and it sure helps if, like this young artist, you have an unbreakable spirit fueling your passion.
Having learned the value of building a team, artist Jocelyn initially hooked up with a manager and attorney. She credits her latter teammate, Steven R. Lowy, with setting up an initial appointment with a music publisher and BMG A&R rep Russell Gaskins.
“Russell really loves my stuff,” Jocelyn says. “I sang BMG seven songs [including the viral hit ‘Just Like Everybody Else’], and they … asked me if I wanted to come back and sing for the president [of BMG]. … It was a shock to me.” After doing just that, Jocelyn became BMG’s then-newest signee in January 2018. And, in true major-league style, BMG hooked her up with five producers, with whom she spent a month in LA writing her debut album.
Her record’s overarching message: self-empowerment. “Telling people that it’s okay to be down, but at the same time, you gotta pick yourself up, you gotta keep moving and going forward,” the 21-year-old says.
Jocelyn has already learned some hard life lessons that give her authority to speak on the subject of self-esteem. After performing for Steve Harvey on Showtime at the Apollo, the singer surprisingly received “so much hate mail, people being terrible to me … [that] I ended up going into the studio that day and writing a song called ‘Speak Up.’ [It’s] about someone bringing you down and, instead of reacting with negative energy and trying to bring them down, reacting with positivity and love.”
The upbeat Jocelyn, who already has more than 100 songs under her belt, credits one music idol in particular with inspiring her to inspire others: Ed Sheeran.
“He’s the reason I started playing music,” she gushes. “I’m going to work with him. It is going to happen.”
