Florida-native Chloe Lowery, one of the most powerful and emotive vocalists in music today, has been very busy the last few years. She has performed with such high profile, musically diverse acts as Yanni's Voices project and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She now is fronting her own band as well, and I caught up with Ms. Lowery recently to discuss this new venture as well as her varied and successful career to date.
Dan Roth: I understand you have been singing since you were 3 years old. Where did you get your start?
Chloe Lowery: I grew up singing in the church. My mom found out I could really sing while I was in pre-school. One of my pre-school teachers said “Your daughter can sing.” and my Mom was like “Yeah we know”, and the teacher said, “No, she can really sing.” So it really started there. But it was mainly just the church.
I started voice lessons when I was seven years old. I sang, I danced, did gymnastics, everything. When I was nine, I auditioned for Entertainment Revue.
CL: They are a non-profit organization that takes girls from the age of six until the time they graduate high school. We performed, did singing and dancing medleys. It is still active in Tampa. We performed for corporate events, we were sponsored by Busch Gardens, we got to meet the President, and we sang the National Anthem for baseball and football games. That’s how I learned to get up on stage.
DR: Whom were you listening to growing up? Was there anyone that you heard that made you say, “This is what I want to do”?
CL: My musical tastes have changed as I have grown up. My mom was really into Broadway and singers like Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion. The first record that I bought was Mariah Carey. So, I really liked the great pop singers and I just loved all the Broadway musicals. This was what I sang in voice lessons. Later on, I discovered that Oh there’s people that really yell and sing [laughs]. I kind of like that more. [laughs]
DR: I understand you signed your first record deal [with RCA Records] when you were 12 years old. Did you release anything with them?
CL: No. Cynthia Gries, who runs Entertainment Revue, had started a girl group called PYT and they were signed to Epic. She then started forming other girl groups and I was in the second one called Splash. We came up to New York and showcased but we never were signed. From there some independent producers and songwriters took a liking to me and they had me do some demos and solo showcases for the heads of some major labels, and I got a deal from that. I was a priority artist in a really great situation, I was about 3/4th done with my record, and then September 11th happened and about 600 people were fired from [RCA’s parent company] BMG including every person that was in charge of my project.
CL: No. Cynthia Gries, who runs Entertainment Revue, had started a girl group called PYT and they were signed to Epic. She then started forming other girl groups and I was in the second one called Splash. We came up to New York and showcased but we never were signed. From there some independent producers and songwriters took a liking to me and they had me do some demos and solo showcases for the heads of some major labels, and I got a deal from that. I was a priority artist in a really great situation, I was about 3/4th done with my record, and then September 11th happened and about 600 people were fired from [RCA’s parent company] BMG including every person that was in charge of my project.
The only things I actually had released were one song from the Boys and Girls soundtrack. . .
DR: “Get You Off My Mind” – I was going to ask you about that.
CL: Yep, that was one of the songs I got my record deal off of, it was a demo song. I did another soundtrack of a Tim Allen movie called Joe Somebody, and I had a song called “The Sweetest Girl” on that.
DR: That’s great, to be 13 or 14 and have songs included in major motion pictures.
CL: It was exciting. I really got an education, a different education than you get in school. It was different.
DR: Now, “Get You Off My Mind”…
CL: [laughs] I sound like I’m two! [laughs] It was of that Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera time. When I was with RCA it was just around that time when all those acts were coming out, and they were trying to develop me as a half Britney-singer-dancer girl and half Mariah Carey-little belter-girl combined in one. But truthfully, I was too young, and it didn’t make sense.
DR: Fast forward to 2006 and you were touring with Big Brother and the Holding Company as their lead singer.
CL: Well going back just a little bit, after I lost my deal with RCA I had the option to move forward with other labels that were coming to me. But I was kind of burnt out a little bit, if you can even imagine being 15 and burnt out [laughs]. I was thinkng, I’m tired, I think I just want to be a kid, I just want to go to school, because I was homeschooled for those years that I was recording all the time. So, I went to an amazing boarding school in Boston called Walnut Hill and I got some phenomenal theater training. I did that for one year, and then I got the bug again, it was time to go to New York.
There I connected with Ric Wake, who is a world-renowned producer and he had me go to his studio and work with his songwriters Marc Russell and Dave Scheuer. We collaborated on some songs and they stared introducing me to rock music - Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, all the greats. I started thinking that this was the direction I want to go in. I wanted to start experimenting with different things. That’s when I became a fan of Janis Joplin. I knew one of the keyboardists who played in Love, Janis, the off-Broadway musical, and he thought I would be a great fit for the band. He sent my songs to them and a couple days later I get a call from [Big Brother guitarist] Sam Andrew with an offer to tour with them for the summer.
DR: What an awesome opportunity!
CL: It was. It was really great.
DR: Janis had such an iconic voice. Was it difficult being in her shoes? Did you have to deal with many comparisons?
CL: It was difficult in a sense. Of course, I’m not Janis and not pretending or claiming to be. I would put my take on it, and still try to keep the Janis feel - sing the songs the way people know them out of respect to the music. It was great – we played to awesome audiences, I got great responses, I had a great experience.
DR: That was your first real taste of touring. Did you enjoy that aspect?
CL: [laughs] I was just out of high school and I was about to go to Carnegie-Mellon and study musical theater, but decided to defer. I wanted to give music one more shot and see if I can get somewhere. This was my first tour right out of high school and it was an interesting grind. Every day we were either in a plane or in a car. There were four of us going everywhere. Sometimes we had great venues and we had backstage, sometimes I was changing behind a towel [laughs]. You never knew what kind of venue you were going to get, but it was great. It was very dirty, very rock ‘n roll, I liked it.
CL: [laughs] I was just out of high school and I was about to go to Carnegie-Mellon and study musical theater, but decided to defer. I wanted to give music one more shot and see if I can get somewhere. This was my first tour right out of high school and it was an interesting grind. Every day we were either in a plane or in a car. There were four of us going everywhere. Sometimes we had great venues and we had backstage, sometimes I was changing behind a towel [laughs]. You never knew what kind of venue you were going to get, but it was great. It was very dirty, very rock ‘n roll, I liked it.
DR: You mentioned producer Ric Wake. You later worked with him on Yanni’s Voices project.
CL: I have known Ric since I was 12. I never worked with him when I was signed to RCA, but I knew him through my manager at the time. I didn’t know him personally until I was 15, 16, 17 and I worked with him. We went our separate ways for a little bit and I didn’t hear from him for a while, and one day out of the blue I got a call from him. He said he had this new project for me, and he asked me to write lyrics to a particular song, record it at his studio and send it down to him in Florida. Then he had me fly down there and sing it for Yanni.
CL: Yes, that was “Until the Last Moment”.
DR: Now that wound up being a duet, correct?
CL: Yes, with Ender (Thomas).
DR: But it did not start out that way.
CL: No, it started with just me, fully in English. It was a question of the key; it wasn’t lifting as much as it should in my register so they brought in one of the boys to try it. We translated half of my lyrics into Spanish and made it a duet.
DR: Was that the first time you sang in Spanish? Was that difficult to do?
CL: Actually, it was the first time I had to sing in Spanish. It wasn’t difficult, I think maybe because I grew up singing a little bit of Italian, singing operas from voice lessons and the vowel diction is similar. Yanni was great as he put me in Berlitz and I started studying Spanish. For a period of time I was very very good, I was almost fluent [laughs], but I slowly lost a little bit of it and I need to get back into it.
CL: Actually, it was the first time I had to sing in Spanish. It wasn’t difficult, I think maybe because I grew up singing a little bit of Italian, singing operas from voice lessons and the vowel diction is similar. Yanni was great as he put me in Berlitz and I started studying Spanish. For a period of time I was very very good, I was almost fluent [laughs], but I slowly lost a little bit of it and I need to get back into it.
DR: Was this the first time you had written lyrics, or is that something you had been doing for a while?
CL: I was writing songs with people since my RCA deal. Granted I didn’t really have much to say back then because I was 13 and I hadn’t even had a first kiss or been on a date. I didn‘t know what to talk about back then, ya know? [laughs] Where I really started writing was when I was with Marc Russell and Dave Scheuer. I was the singular lyricist and they helped me write the melody. With Yanni, it was a different style of writing, a different lyrical content that I had to incorporate, a different style of music. I was doing rock and then I went into this new age style.
DR: Tell me about “Change”, a simply beautiful song that you performed with Yanni. You wrote this one as well?
CL: It was originally a Yanni song. All of the songs we did were original Yanni instrumentals and we wrote lyrics to them. That one is a song called “Prelude” and it was an instrumental piece I heard on one of his live DVDs. It was very haunting and very eerie, and I told Yanni one day, “I want to sing that song”. He made a track for me so that I could sing something to it. It took me a couple days to write lyrics to it and that was the song.
DR: I have seen a video of you performing this live, and you got emotional while singing this song. What is it about that song?
DR: The Voices project could be a bit hard to follow. There was the Voices CD, the bonus DVD with songs that were not on the CD, and the Spanish language Voces album. Where can one find your “Love Awakening”?
DR: I thought it was interesting that there was so much reaction to it.
CL: I did too. But I get it, it was very sensual.
CL: We recorded so much music. I wrote and performed so many songs that didn’t actually get out there. I think with the relationship Yanni had with PBS, there were certain releases only for PBS and songs that were not released to the public. “Love Awakening” you can only hear on the Electronic Press Kit that we did; it’s not anywhere released.
DR: The song "Our Days".
CL: [laughs]
DR: You don't sing on that one.
CL: No, that was a Leslie Mills song.
DR: But you are 'on' the piano on that song. [laughs]
CL: Oh yes I am [laughs]
DR: But you are 'on' the piano on that song. [laughs]
CL: Oh yes I am [laughs]
DR: That performance certainly generated some discussion amongst Yanni fans and reviewers. Any particular thoughts on that?
CL: When we started rehearsals for the Acapulco show, we were working with a choreographer named Alex Magno. He is a phenomenal visionary and a great great guy. I’m a dancer and they wanted to utilize as much of everyone’s talent as they could. That song, it wasn’t meant to be anything sexual or weird, it was just an artistic, modern piece and that’s all it was. I know fans thought other things. [laughs]
CL: When we started rehearsals for the Acapulco show, we were working with a choreographer named Alex Magno. He is a phenomenal visionary and a great great guy. I’m a dancer and they wanted to utilize as much of everyone’s talent as they could. That song, it wasn’t meant to be anything sexual or weird, it was just an artistic, modern piece and that’s all it was. I know fans thought other things. [laughs]
DR: I thought it was interesting that there was so much reaction to it.
CL: I did too. But I get it, it was very sensual.
DR: What was it like to work with Yanni and Ric Wake?
CL: Amazing. Ric was like the overseer of everything, he would ‘okay’ things, give his advice, and tell us what direction he liked.
Yanni was very hands on in the studio. He was a mentor. He would tell me how to sing things, how to feel things. He was kind of like a father figure in some ways, very nurturing. It was a great experience; he really loved all four of the singers.DR: Was there talk of a follow-up Voices album?
CL: Well, let me say this. Yanni’s Voices was a beautiful project and in my opinion, I feel it is a little under appreciated. There was so much effort that went into it. I do understand why some maybe were not so receptive to the project because so many knew Yanni from his instrumentals. I think Yanni was in his mentoring phase and he wanted to help others and that’s where he was at. I’m very proud of that project and am happy to have been a part of it. There were a lot of expectations that weren’t met unfortunately. It wasn’t received the way I think people wanted it to be received.
Right before we released the Voices album, Yanni-Wake joined up with Disney Pearl and from there I was upstreamed to Disney; I was signed to Disney. I moved to Los Angeles, about to start a record and start working with Disney. Long story short, that relationship didn’t go so well; it was a mismatch from the start.
DR: How did you wind up performing with Trans-Siberian Orchestra?
CL: Well, I knew [TSO Talent Coordinator] Dina [Fanai] and she has known me for a few years from when I used to sing with the Richie Cannata Jam at the Cutting Room. Right when I started with Yanni, she called me for the Winter Tour, and that was three or four years before I joined TSO. I told her I couldn’t as I had just started working with Yanni. Then right after I got off the Mexican tour, I was just moving into my apartment in L.A.; Dina called again, this time for the Beethoven’s Last Night tour and asked if I was free. She asked me to learn some songs and audition for Paul [O’Neill]. I auditioned for two days, and on the second day, he told me I had the role.
DR: How did you prepare for that role of Theresa?
CL: I read. They sent me booklets and pages of the story. I researched Beethoven to make sure I knew the background. I watched Immortal Beloved. [laughs] And I just practiced and practiced the songs. Singing “Dreams of Candlelight” and [sings Time, Only Time. . . ] you know.
DR: Did you use Patti Russo's vocals as a guide?
CL: Yes, that's how I learned it. She is an amazing singer. I tried to sing it as close to her as I could but still keeping myself in there.
CL: I love, love, love that song. It goes from such an intimate moment to a big moment and it encompasses every emotion I felt. I loved it, it was great.
DR: "After the Fall" seems like the kind of song that was made for you - it has the tender emotional moments and then the powerful closing section. It's really a tour de force for the singer. Do you feel the same way?
DR: Speaking of emotion…
CL: Oh, here we go [laughs]
DR: Can I ask what it was about that song each night for you that you would shed a tear? Was it Theresa wondering what could have been? The years that she missed out on with Beethoven? Some other meaning that evokes such emotion?
CL: The second verse really gets me [sings Try, I Have Tried] and especially the line “I Don’t Want the Past to be My Life” just kills me every time. You don’t want your past mistakes or past heartaches to embody you.
DR: Got it. There was one show that it seemed to affect you a bit more.
CL: Battle Creek [April 2011]. Well, not to sound acty-shmacty [laughs], I am of the belief that when you are portraying a role and you have to evoke a certain emotion, you have to draw from personal experience. I was going through a personal conflict in my life and Paul’s lyrics are so beautiful in that song, and they're so real, so true. I was speaking from my heart and I got emotional about it and thank God for Al Pitrelli who grabbed me and told me “You’re okay, You’re okay”. I must have thanked him a million times.
DR: Are you sad that the Beethoven’s Last Night tours are now over?
CL: I’m so sad. I loved that tour. It was great. I loved the people, I loved the show. It was a lot of fun. And every year it changed. I was happy on this last tour, for some of the shows, that we were able to include “Mephistopheles Return” and “I’ll Keep your Secrets” again.
CL: I’m so sad. I loved that tour. It was great. I loved the people, I loved the show. It was a lot of fun. And every year it changed. I was happy on this last tour, for some of the shows, that we were able to include “Mephistopheles Return” and “I’ll Keep your Secrets” again.
DR: How long does it typically take you to learn one of these songs?CL: Not too long, especially once you connect with what you are singing about, what the story is about. Paul’s lyrics are pretty easy to remember, they’re a story.
DR: Do you have any pre-show routines?
CL: A lot of the girls do “8 Minute Abs”. Georgia [Napolitano] got us all started on it. It’s a quick abs program. [laughs] Depending on the show, during the Beethoven’s Last Night tour, I drink lots of water. During the winter tour, I really like Throat Coat tea. I always have a cup before I sing. We have a whole tea station backstage.
CL: A lot of the girls do “8 Minute Abs”. Georgia [Napolitano] got us all started on it. It’s a quick abs program. [laughs] Depending on the show, during the Beethoven’s Last Night tour, I drink lots of water. During the winter tour, I really like Throat Coat tea. I always have a cup before I sing. We have a whole tea station backstage.
DR: How do you deal with all the pressure of performing in front of large audiences? You still get butterflies?
CL: I still get opening night jitters, especially when it’s a new show. Like last year was my first Winter Tour for TSO. After that, it becomes like going to work every day and you just get used to the routine.
DR: The radio promotion performances . . .
CL: Those are fun.
DR: They really come across that way. Do you enjoy those?
CL: I actually do. A lot of people don’t want to get called for radio because it’s 5:00 in the morning. It is rough. When you’re travelling all the time, and you are not getting much sleep it is hard to get up in the morning. But I really enjoy it, especially with Al because he just lets you be you in the song, and it’s an acoustic sit-down version, which people don’t get to hear from the stage so it’s something new and different. I like it and getting to talk about TSO is fun.
CL: I actually do. A lot of people don’t want to get called for radio because it’s 5:00 in the morning. It is rough. When you’re travelling all the time, and you are not getting much sleep it is hard to get up in the morning. But I really enjoy it, especially with Al because he just lets you be you in the song, and it’s an acoustic sit-down version, which people don’t get to hear from the stage so it’s something new and different. I like it and getting to talk about TSO is fun.
DR: You mentioned your Winter Tour; you performed several songs on that tour. Did you have a favorite out of these? I really enjoyed your take on “Music Box Blues”.
CL: Well I have to say I heard Daryl’s [Pediford] version, which is beautiful. Then I heard Erika’s [Jerry] version, which I was like That girl can sing! Not only is she a beautiful person but the most phenomenal singer. It was fun because I got to play with it a little bit. Especially with Jane [Mangini] on the piano. She really feels with you and caters to how you sing things. But truthfully, I love “Prince of Peace”. That song is soulful, bluesy, just you and the piano. I love it.
CL: I think it’s keeping up with your health. You have to be on every day. The expectation is that your voice is 100% every day, so you have to take care of yourself. Can’t stay up late, can’t go out at night. You just have to learn your body and what works for you.
DR: Do you learn the other vocalist’s songs in case there is a health situation?
CL: Yes. We all pretty much know everyone else’s parts in case somebody goes down. We have had incidents where, like on the Spring tour, April Berry went out - she hurt her foot. We were worried that she would have to go home, but luckily, she just needed a week break to rest. We had to cover her vocal parts, so things like that happen. They prepare us really well.
CL: Yes. We all pretty much know everyone else’s parts in case somebody goes down. We have had incidents where, like on the Spring tour, April Berry went out - she hurt her foot. We were worried that she would have to go home, but luckily, she just needed a week break to rest. We had to cover her vocal parts, so things like that happen. They prepare us really well.
DR: Any special memories from touring with TSO thus far?
CL: I have to tell you, my first spring tour with TSO, if you can imagine Tim Hockenberry, Rob Evan, Jeff Scott Soto, and Andrew Ross all on a bus together - you never stop laughing. But Tim Hockenberry – every night when he would sing “Believe”, I would stand on the side of the stage and just be like, Oh my gosh. What comes out of him are just raw emotions. It’s beautiful.
DR: You co-wrote “Wishing” for Everclear with [Everclear vocalist/guitarist] Art Alexakis. How did you two wind up working together?
CL: During the period when I was still signed to Disney, I was looking to write some songs, and I met Art through some mutual associations. I had gone to his house in Portland, Oregon and spent a couple days with him and his family. We wrote three or four songs together and “Wishing” was one of them. Unfortunately, nothing came from the sessions that we did, but he told me he wanted to put that song on his next album if I didn’t do anything with it. The song came out great, I am really honored.
DR: Lyrically, did you write that song with anyone in particular in mind?
CL: Yes. [laughs] Not going to name names, but I was going through an issue at that time. But that’s where the rawest emotions come out of. It’s where you pull from.
CL: Yes. [laughs] Not going to name names, but I was going through an issue at that time. But that’s where the rawest emotions come out of. It’s where you pull from.
DR: I wanted to touch on your new project, Chameleon. Any story behind the name?
CL: Personally, I have been called a chameleon my whole life because I have sung opera, rock, Broadway, pop, done a little bit of everything. When I formed this band with Andrew [Ross] and Rob [Allen], all three of us were so different and each of the songs was so different as well, and we as a band are ever changing.
CL: Personally, I have been called a chameleon my whole life because I have sung opera, rock, Broadway, pop, done a little bit of everything. When I formed this band with Andrew [Ross] and Rob [Allen], all three of us were so different and each of the songs was so different as well, and we as a band are ever changing.
DR: How would you describe the music of Chameleon?
CL: If I had to pick a specific genre, it’s pop rock. It’s also electronic, a little psychedelic, a little heavy metal, a little new wavey, a little noise pop. That’s sort of the basis of Chameleon, because all three of us come from very different backgrounds and we like the same music, but different music. It’s a combination of all of those loves and what we grew up on.
DR: What was the impetus for putting this band together?
CL: While I was on the second Beethoven’s Last Night tour I found out that my deal with Disney had ended. That really got me thinking that I just needed to go and write some music that I love and believe in that comes from me with no pressure from any outside source. I happened to become really close with Andrew, we just clicked and we started talking about music and he was introducing me to some bands and we were seeing shows together. I moved back to New York, we just started writing, and the first song we wrote was “LA Chameleon”. That came from me just moving from L.A. and how so many people are fake out there. The song is about how if you are in L.A., you become a chameleon as you adjust to what everyone wants you to be.
One of my best friends is Natalya [Rose] and she introduced us to Rob. I knew Rob wrote and produced, but I had never heard any of his music. He had heard us working on “LA Chameleon” and asked to play around with it and put his take on it. He brought it back to us and it was an amazing production! We had to be a band! That’s how it started.
DR: Who are the primary songwriters?
CL: Andrew and I. A lot of it is a collaborative effort where Andrew and I work up the basis of a song, we give it to Rob, and he adds his take to it.
DR: Who plays what?
CL: That minimalistic organ you hear? That’s me. And Rob in some places as well. Andrew plays pretty much all the guitars. On “Anthem” the guitar solo is played by Angus [Clark]. Angus is amazing. Aurelien [Budynek] plays slide guitar on “How the West was Won” and he also helped us mix, produce and play “Something in the Water”. He is phenomenal. Rob contributes all the beats and any synths you hear. Asha Mevlana is on “Something in the Water” and Caitlin Moe is on “How the West was Won” and “I Didn’t Call”. Jane Mangini plays piano on “I Didn’t Call”.
CL: That minimalistic organ you hear? That’s me. And Rob in some places as well. Andrew plays pretty much all the guitars. On “Anthem” the guitar solo is played by Angus [Clark]. Angus is amazing. Aurelien [Budynek] plays slide guitar on “How the West was Won” and he also helped us mix, produce and play “Something in the Water”. He is phenomenal. Rob contributes all the beats and any synths you hear. Asha Mevlana is on “Something in the Water” and Caitlin Moe is on “How the West was Won” and “I Didn’t Call”. Jane Mangini plays piano on “I Didn’t Call”.
DR: You have plans on releasing a full length CD. Are you still shopping for a label?
CL: Yes. We are waiting for the right deal and we want to be with the right “family”. I have had deals where you don’t have the right people behind you, it just doesn’t work, and I think that’s important. We want to make sure we have the right group of people before we say Yes to a deal. Right now, we are building a brand new website and we will release some full-length songs for free, maybe even do a small EP.
CL: Yes. We are waiting for the right deal and we want to be with the right “family”. I have had deals where you don’t have the right people behind you, it just doesn’t work, and I think that’s important. We want to make sure we have the right group of people before we say Yes to a deal. Right now, we are building a brand new website and we will release some full-length songs for free, maybe even do a small EP.
DR: The band has done many shows in New York City thus far. Do you have touring plans for outside of this area?
CL: Yes! We definitely want to do that. When we get back from this upcoming TSO tour, we will try to hit L.A. for a couple dates, possibly Philly and Boston as well. If we can pick up a tour anywhere else, we will try and do it.
CL: I am fully devoted to it. I love collaborating with Andrew and Rob and all of these other musicians we get to work with. It’s like my playground. [laughs] It’s very freeing because we just write the music that we like. I sing lyrics that I want to say. We certainly want to see it go further. From there I think we all want to do our own solo projects along the way. I know Andrew has some things up his sleeve, I definitely have some ideas, Rob has a different direction he wants to go in, but all stemming from Chameleon.
DR: Your concerts thus far have definitely been morphing and changing from show to show, with the band configuration changing and the way some songs are performed as well. Has this just been an experimental phase to see what works and what doesn’t?
CL: I think so. I guess we are trying different things. We tried the live drummer, and we really loved him – Gabe [Marshall] – he is amazing. We love having Aurelien whenever we can get him – he only helps and adds – he’s a genius. And then Justin [Surdyn] and Lenna [Lien], they played [trumpet and sax] on “Uh Huh” and they have been available for some shows, so they have come on stage and made the sound even bigger.
You’ll be the first to know that when we get back from the TSO tour and start playing live again with Chameleon, Rob’s not going to be playing live with us as much. He has got a few other projects he wants to work on, and he wants to be more involved behind the scenes. So were are going to play around some more, maybe even incorporate a new person or have the drummer do it. So the focus on Chameleon will be more on Andrew and I.
I’m very proud of Chameleon, proud of the work we have been doing, how far we have come, and how far we are going to go. It’s still a baby. We’ve only been together for a year. We have a long way to go, but it’s great. I love it.
DR: From Big Brother, Yanni, TSO, and Chameleon, What are your favorite songs that you have performed over the years? If you had to put together a ‘Chloe’s Greatest Hits’, what would be on it?
CL: One of my actual favorite songs that I ever sang live was “Ball and Chain” with Big Brother and the Holding Company. That was so much fun to sing live, I would actually like to do a cover of it one of these days. I love “After the Fall”, “Prince of Peace”, “Change” with Yanni, “Niki Nana”, the big finale song with Yanni. With Chameleon, I love all of them. [laughs]
DR: Are there any shows that you have done that stand out to you or are very memorable to you?
DR: Do you take special care of your voice?
CL: I try to. My voice is pretty resilient, I can bounce back pretty quickly if I stay up late one night, and I’m okay the next day. Especially on tour, when I’m working a lot, I try to be really good.
CL: I try to. My voice is pretty resilient, I can bounce back pretty quickly if I stay up late one night, and I’m okay the next day. Especially on tour, when I’m working a lot, I try to be really good.
DR: Do you have any vocal exercises or warm-ups that you do?
CL: No. I’m the worst. [laughs] I think when I talk, I’m sort of yelling all day, and that’s what I do on stage, so I’m already warmed up by the time I go on stage. [laughs]
DR: You have done a lot of touring. What do you like about it and what do you dislike about it?
CL: I like sleeping on a tour bus. I sleep really well; it’s really dark so I can sleep for hours. I like being in a different city every day, getting to see different parts of the country, the world. Especially with TSO – it is such a family – it’s just fun with all the girls, and the guys, it is like a party all of the time. [laughs] And I do love hotels and the hotel baths. [laughs] I think for touring, you’re either a touring person or you’re not and I’m lucky enough to be one. I like it.
CL: I like sleeping on a tour bus. I sleep really well; it’s really dark so I can sleep for hours. I like being in a different city every day, getting to see different parts of the country, the world. Especially with TSO – it is such a family – it’s just fun with all the girls, and the guys, it is like a party all of the time. [laughs] And I do love hotels and the hotel baths. [laughs] I think for touring, you’re either a touring person or you’re not and I’m lucky enough to be one. I like it.
DR: Anything you dislike about it?
CL: Well, like I said earlier, it’s every day when you wake up and worry about Oh my gosh, can I sing today?. It’s that expectation. I always have the worry that I will wake up one day, I won’t have a voice, and that panic comes over me sometimes.
DR: When I think of Chloe Lowery, I think of powerful, graceful, emotive vocals. However, you have also danced with both Yanni and TSO. Do you enjoy the choreography?
CL: I do. I grew up dancing, my sister dances for the New York City Ballet, my mom does ballroom dancing, were dancers. So any opportunity I get to dance, I like it. On stage, it’s really fun to move, I like it.
CL: So many. I want to see Chameleon out there playing to bigger audiences and more people hearing and enjoying our music. From there I want to get my own record out.
DR: Any aspirations to try for Broadway?
CL: I think eventually one day. I do love Broadway, I don’t know if it is in the cards for me right now but it’s definitely a goal that I have always wanted.
CL: I think eventually one day. I do love Broadway, I don’t know if it is in the cards for me right now but it’s definitely a goal that I have always wanted.
DR: We talked earlier about inspirations. What vocalists have affected you?
CL: Well, I started with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion. And later on I had a love affair with Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin, Humble Pie – I love Steve Marriott. I am obsessed! I heard his voice and I thought What!? Where did that come from?
But even now I am into bands like The Kills, Bat for Lashes, The Dead Weather, Goldfrapp, Fleet Foxes, more indie bands.
DR: You are an inspiration to young ladies in the audience who aspire to be on stage someday. What advice would you give to them?
CL: Pursue your love. Go to school if you need to learn more of how to sing and act. Otherwise just follow your heart, find out who you are, get in touch with your feelings and learn how to protect them on stage, and just keep singing. Never give up.
For more information:
Chloe Lowery: http://www.officialchloe.com/
Big Brother & the Holding Company: http://www.bbhc.com
Yanni: http://www.yanni.com
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: http://www.trans-siberian.com
TSO Fan Site/Message Board: http://tsoboards.com/
Chameleon: http://wearechameleon.com
