By Susan Gedutis Lindsay
Berklee.edu Correspondent
October 2005

	Photo by Liz Linder
	Jessica's Audio • "I Could Fall in Love" (J. Edmunds): Listen

Jessica Edmunds can still hear the sounds of gospel music on a Saturday morning as she and her siblings cleaned up their rooms, or early Sunday mornings while getting ready for church. She was immersed in gospel, blues, and hip-hop throughout her childhood. Her mother sang in the choir at church and in local groups, her dad is a blues saxophonist, and her grandfather was lead singer of a doowop group in the 1960s. Her brother Greg brought influences of hip-hop music into the home. "Music in my life was inevitable," she says.

Edmunds decided to pursue music as a career in her last year in a Pittsburgh high school, when she realized that music can be a legitimate full-time venture, not just a hobby. When Berklee representatives came to her area on the World Scholarship Tour, she successfully auditioned for a scholarship. Now just over halfway through her studies at Berklee, she continues to sing but is a music business major. It's her way of ensuring that she'll have business smarts to support the performing career that she's sure is in her future.

"The music business/management program at Berklee informs the musician how to survive once we enter the actual industry," says Edmunds. Successful musicians must understand how to write and negotiate contracts, protect their ideas through copyrighting, and protect their earnings through accounting. Of course, the music industry is always evolving, and is one of the most unpredictable industries, but Edmunds feels that she is developing the tools she'll need to survive, no matter what shape the industry takes. "Whether someone wants to own their own record company, develop and/or manage talent, or be a well-informed artist, the tools are here for you to step into the industry prepared."

As for Edmunds, she's a performer and wants to sing. She has been part of Berklee's Reverence Gospel Choir and the Jazz Hip-Hop Ensemble, with which she has performed at the JVC Jazz Festival in Miami and Lincoln Center. She even opened for Little Richard at the Democratic National Convention in Boston 2004. Last year, she was selected as the only soloist for the George Duke Tribute at Berklee, performing his ballad "So I'll Pretend."

Edmunds works on a project in a music business computer lab. Photo by Liz Linder   Jessica's Top Five • Petals – Minnie Ripperton (funk) • Highly Recommended – Helen Baylor (gospel/r&b) • Illmatic – Nas (rap) • Mama's Gun – Eryka Badu (new classic soul) • Kina – Kina (rock/pop/r&b)

Edmunds contributes to the Berklee community as an active member of numerous clubs. She's in the Berklee Student Government Association, the Black Student Union, the President's Club, and Christian Fellowship. She is also a Scholarship Ambassador, which brings her all over the United States with Berklee's World Scholarship Tour to assist with new student auditions and clinics for prospective students.

Edmunds believes that her time at Berklee will enable her to make a living doing what she loves. "That's part of my professional goals," she says. "I enjoy singing, expressing, and connecting with the world around me, and it's got to be a part of my life all the time." Berklee has already helped make music a big part of her life, sometimes a bit more than she expected. "But it's all good. I'm cherishing the fun parts...and determined to conquer ear training," she quips.

After graduation, Edmunds wants to perform. "I want to continue to serve the purpose of God in my generation," she says. "God gave me the gift of song and music, and Berklee's helping me to cultivate my skill." She hopes to join a band, and do some recording and touring. When asked about her musical dreams, she cites the lyrics of Minnie Ripperton's song, "Adventures in Paradise," I believe any dream that I want to/That ain't the only way of keeping hope alive/And if by chance I give birth to my visions/Life is so fantastic it will come as no surprise.

It certainly won't be a surprise to Edmunds, because she'll graduate from Berklee with the confidence, talent, and business sense to make her own good fortune. "I will leave Berklee an educated artist who can handle my own affairs, and won't have to rely completely on managers and lawyers to handle the business side of music." Look out, world, here she comes.

Susan Gedutis Lindsay is the author of See You At the Hall: Boston's Golden Era of Irish Music and Dance (Northeastern University Press).

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