True soul is more than just the sound of the singer. That’s definitely the case with rock spellbinder Jessie Galante, whose urge to electrify audiences with her expressive powerhouse vocals comes from deep within.

A prolific recording artist with a fast-growing following in both the U.S. and Europe, 2009 has been an exciting year yet for the singer hailed by her native Buffalo. Jessie has been showered with accolades from media all over the world ever since she picked up her first microphone in her hometown where she was raised in a household with strict Sicilian parents and four protective brothers. After just three months of live performances her popularity exploded, supported heavily with a hit song and radio airplay.

Her parents introduced her to the music of her Italian heritage at an early age playing and singing continuously throughout the house. That planted the original seed of passion for music inside Jessie’s heart and soul. With this passion combined with the emotional frustration bearing down on her from her strict upbringing, Jessie felt a revolution brewing inside her against becoming a tame little girl and the evolution and love of rock music stirring inside of her. This rebellious teenager desperately began craving to express herself in a way which would communicate that energy and pent up emotions and took to the streets of the city to find her outlet. It was in the streets where she found her voice and found herself. And what a voice she found. She ravaged the stages of Buffalo like one of the storms that frequent that city and with her first band “Actor” she rapidly became the number one female singer in the region and crowned the city’s, " First Lady of Rock” a title that is yet to be challenged. Her first single recording, “Checkin’ Out” is still being played regularly on 97 Rock, Buffalo’s number one rock radio station as a tribute to the cities greatest female rock talents.

Even with this early success, Jessie felt a constant desire to find different audiences. Determined, Jessie packed her bags and moved to LA. Within a year’s time, Jessie was heard by and signed to a Los Angeles management company and formed the band “Fire” around her voice. They performed at all of LA’s landmark rock venues such as The Whisky A Go Go, The Roxy, Gazarris and The Reseda Country Club. Her band “Fire” was consistently voted one of the top ten hottest bands in LA and in an article in the LA Music Connection magazine Jessie was described as “Arguably one of the hottest front women LA has to offer.”

All this attention naturally brought out producers who started recording Jessie; namely, mega-producer Michael Wagener (Janet Jackson, Queen, Sass Jordan, Great White, Extreme, The Rasmus, Stryper). Even with all this attention and success, American corporate music industry scene had just begun to turn its head away from rock and towards the new Seattle “grunge” sound.

However, at the same time, it seemed it was Europe that welcomed Jessie’s soulful rock voice as she discovered that her demo recordings, which were done with Michael Wagener, were now being played in regular rotation by radio stations in Germany, England, France, Belgium, Holland and Italy. In addition, there was tremendous press coverage about Jessie throughout Europe. This was something that she would never forgot when deciding on how and where to perform.

First, as a solo artist, she felt the need to write her first CD. Jessie went back to Buffalo and introduced to fellow Buffalo native Larry Swist who had worked with artists like Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Ike &Tina Turner, Spyro Gyra and Sly & the Family Stone. Together they produced Jessie’s first solo CD entitled “Gesua” (Jessie’s actual Sicilian name). This recording was described by a reviewer as “ A gritty album which confronts a gamut of emotional demons and dares you to flinch.” This album was Jessie’s statement of liberation. After this emotional release, she finally felt totally free to be herself.

After the liberating experience of her first solo outing, Jessie felt empowered to explore all the aspects of her past for inspiration. She began by embracing her Italian heritage by recording a CD of Italian songs which she sang in Italian, the language she spoke as a child. It also proved to be a work that showed off Jessie’s tremendously versatile emotional range. But rock was her roots and everybody knew it.

Jessie began to focus on performing in Europe. After just a few performances, she was convinced that she had made the right decision. A promoter in Holland enthusiastically proclaimed, “Jessie is a major victory for live entertainment in Europe!”

At one of her concerts, Jessie met Hungarian guitarist Janos Szucs. Janos’ attitude and guitar playing attracted Jessie in a very basic emotional way. From his playing, it was clear … it was rock, not the “learned from a book” kind, but the stuff you get from the streets … not unlike the stuff Jessie got in her early days in Buffalo. Also, from Janos’ attitude, Jessie recognized a part of herself in that this person had come a long way to get where he is to be able to do what he loved to do. …. and that was play. Jessie and Janos recorded a CD together called “Shine”. In a live radio performance at L1 Radio in The Netherlands, DJ Hubert Van Hoof compared Jessie’s performance on this CD to Chaka Kahn and Joyce Kennedy of Mother’s Finest.

The parallels between the two became clear as Janos’ story unfolded. As Jessie found her passion at an early age and needed to leave her family behind and move from Buffalo to LA and then back to Buffalo and then to Europe and sing, Janos had to leave Hungary which was under Communist rule just to hear and play the rock music he loved. Certainly, Jessie’s exoduses were not quite as dramatic as going through the Berlin Wall to Western freedom, but the motive was the same. It was a common bond between them to need a place to play the music that was deeply rooted inside them. This was why, when Janos returned to his homeland and found that the Hungarian rock music scene was thriving, the first thing he did was call Jessie. He wanted them to see her and he wanted her to experience them and have a great place to rock.

Currently Jessie’s performances in Europe continue to capture the interests of radio stations and concert promoters. July 2008, Jessie was invited to perform live on a RTL National Television in Budapest, Hungary and more recently again on March, 2009.

New York City -based, Jessie Galante released her latest CD on April 2, 2009 titled, “Spitfire”, backed up by a high-profile team that truly understands the potential of her riveting artistry again with double platinum producer Larry Swist and co-producing is eight time Grammy award winner multi-platinum mixer Mick Guzauski whose incredible body of work includes artists like Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Anastacia, Kiss, Celine Dion, Earth Wind and Fire to name just a few. Also joining the production team is Manhattan based guitarist, singer songwriter and producer Rob Bailey producing three tracks on “Spitfire”. Rob Bailey whose worked with (Anastacia, JaRule, Gavin Degraw, Ric Wake, Jive Jones and more).

All the better to hear Jessie Galante’s distinctive gift – a charged vocal approach that can shift from subtly sensual emotion to hair-raising aggression at a moment’s notice.

This woman has a big voice, her trademark: a consortium of pure strength, gorgeous fragility, inspirational vocal gymnastics and total control on breaking barriers that shows why stands in a class all by herself.

Co-writing along with Jessie are Lee Horrocks (formerly with Ric Wake Entertainment) and guitarist Janos Szucs from Budapest, Hungary. Rob Bailey also co-wrote the title track “Spitfire”.

While it’s invigorating to have the kind of explosiveness that Galante possesses in her toolbox, the globetrotting singer has learned that being multidimensional is what keeps albums and live shows interesting. “I totally understand my instrument and I can work it any way that I want to,” she explains. “Some critics say that if your record has many different feels, then they don’t know where you’re coming from. Every single day I go through different moods and emotions, so why not record a record that conveys that? Whatever the emotion is that I want to express, I know I’m in control.”

So in conclusion, and the long run, it all boils down to really knowing who you are and really knowing what you’re meant to do with the time you have on this Earth. Jessie Galante is one of those people. It is obvious from the first time you see her on a stage. She was just meant to be there. It’s all summed up in the name Jessie gave her music publishing company …. “Mamma, I Just Wanna Sing.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.