Juliet Nightingale
British singer/songwriter and composer, Juliet Nightingale, started singing professionally in the 1960’s with various artists as well as performing solo. In recent years, she was in the folk-rock group, Higher Choir, with styles similar to Crosby, Stills & Nash and Peter, Paul & Mary—singing high harmony similar to Graham Nash. She also sang with Nashville recording artist, Terri Lynn, in jazzy-blues style as well as backing up numerous other artists in Nashville.
There’s a unique quality about Juliet Nightingale in that, she’s always had the lofty ability to sing and play music entirely by ear—something that she’s been able to do throughout her life. She’s sung perfect harmony, even as a very small child, and has had people in awe, time and again. She is able to hear multiple layers of notes in any song or composition—deciphering each one of them—and reproduce them vocally and on keys. She’s done this with a lot of her favourite pieces—playing them solo or ‘jamming’ with them on CD.
Juliet possesses the uncanny ability to instantly harmonise, ‘on the fly’, as she’s listening to a song for the first time. Perhaps it’s a combination of her deep psychic ability as well as the gift for harmony that allows her to perform such a feat. This gives her a special edge in the recording studio where the usage of time is a huge factor. She’s quick and ‘Johnny-on-the-spot’ on the first or second take. Her harmonies are always precise and accurate … and her vocals blend perfectly with the lead vocal.
Terri Lynn—trusting Juliet’s profound ability—asked her to get up on stage with her and do back-up vocals. This, she did—despite her having never heard any of Terri’s material before. Juliet started harmonising with her and ‘scatting’, as if she’d rehearsed the songs well in advance! People in the audience were blown away and Terri’s songwriter boyfriend said “She’s a keeper! Don't let her go!” and that’s when Juliet became Terri’s official singing partner.
She quickly became the ‘resident harmony singer’ at various writers’ nights where she joined the band, accompanying songwriters as they performed. She did the same for songwriters singing ‘in the round’ at acoustic writers circles in Nashville, as well as singing and performing her own original material on keys. Again, people were breath-taken by the stunning beauty of Juliet’s harmony singing and the way she added such richness and depth to songs. It was rare, indeed, that she was not asked to get up and sing behind someone, regardless of their style of music.
It’s no surprise, then, that Juliet is being sought for session work, back-up harmony vocals and demo singing—due to her exceptional gift for singing harmony and having perfect pitch. She has been said to have a haunting and angelic voice—being able to sing very clear, high notes. She has graced many songs with her exquisite vocals—giving them a richer and fuller sound.
Before leaving Nashville Juliet was a member of the choral group, Nashville in Harmony (NIH) ~ Nashville’s community chorus consisting of members of the GLBT community and their supporters and friends. The music is diversified—ranging from classical and neo-classical to pop and world tunes—with emphasis on unity, tolerance, peace, compassion and triumph. Juliet sang soprano and was on the media and repertoire committees. Nashville In Harmony is a full fledged non-profit organisation with music director, Don Schlosser, and accompanist, Bob House.
Traditionally, Juliet has written and performed songs and compositions in Celtic, English, folk, light classical and New Age styles. In Nashville, she has enjoyed ‘stretching’ her style by singing with others—doing jazz, blues, country, gospel and more—being very adaptable and versatile. For many genres of music, Juliet will, indeed, add the perfect compliment to your songs!
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