Biography

Source: JessicaAndrews.com

The turning point in Jessica Andrews' return to the national spotlight came at a recording session. She had just laid down a vocal for a song demo in a studio owned by Rascal Flatts bassist Jay DeMarcus, who was sitting in the control room. He had met Jessica when both their careers were getting started, but he hadn't heard her sing in several years. When she finished, he pushed the talk-back button.

"Jessica," he said, "Wow! I didn't know you sang like this or how mature your voice was now." As they talked, he told her he had begun producing other artists and would love the chance to work with her.

With that conversation in the fall of 2006, the young woman who had her first Top 40 hit at the age of 15, and who took the music world by storm with her chart-topping 2001 single "Who I Am" at 17, set in motion a re-emergence that has led to her first record in three years.

Jessica's new music displays a vocal and songwriting maturity that is testament to the hard work she put in following the demise of her former record label, Dreamworks, a period in which she focused single-mindedly on her craft.

"Honestly, I felt free," she says. "I didn't have ties to anyone and I knew I could make the kind of music I really wanted to make, to write and demo the songs that meant something to me. I decided, 'I'm going to do it my way until someone takes notice of what I'm doing and wants to be part of it.'"

That, of course, is exactly what happened, as DeMarcus signed on and brought his talent and enthusiasm to bear on the project.

"He loved the way my songwriting had developed and where my head was at in terms of direction," she says. "As we chose songs and tried things out in the studio, I really got the itch to jump back in to my career. Jay brought in a guitar player and the three of us laid down some scaled-down tracks that highlighted the songs and my voice. He said, 'I've got some labels in mind to pitch these to, but I have to say that Lyric Street knows we're working together and they've been telling me they want to hear what we've been doing.'"

The label quickly got on board and Jessica began work on the album.

"We had assembled a great team, we had a great compilation of songs, and Jay and I were really clicking in the studio," she says. "I knew we had something special."

Jessica's return comes via a song written by singer/songwriter Marcel who has written hits for Rascal Flatts, Josh Gracin, Leann Rimes, Big And Rich, Julianne Hough and even co-penned "There's More To Me Than You" with Andrews. Called "Everything," it was the song that propelled her return on the fast track.

"Marcel played it for me the night I got back to town after a week of shows on the road," she says. "I knew right away it was an amazing song, and I agreed to sing the demo because I wanted to see him get a major cut with it."

Her demo performance, though, was another knockout, and all eyes turned toward Jessica.

"Everyone who heard it said, 'You've got to record this, Jessica," she says. "Jay thought the same thing and the label said, 'This song was meant for you!'"

Her new single and the album to follow give Jessica the chance to share the results of her long musical journey with fans.

"As an artist," she says, "I'm drastically different now. It almost feels like the early records were a different person ago. I have a new perspective on everything now because of some of the hard knocks and the soul-searching I've done. I feel it makes me more seasoned and better all-around."

There was never any doubt about her talent. Music was a part of her life from her earliest days growing up in tiny Huntingdon, Tennessee. After winning a local talent contest singing "I Will Always Love You," she began making waves in Nashville before she was a teenager. Producer Byron Gallimore, known for his work with Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Jo Dee Messina, met with her and signed on as her original producer. After three top 40 hits from her first album, Heart Shaped World, she exploded with the release of "Who I Am" from the sophomore album of the same name. In 2000 she won the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist award and toured with Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood. At 18, she turned her creative interests passionately toward songwriting.

"I had written songs before that," she says, "but I hadn't been really serious about it. When I met Marcel, we would get together and sing or talk about song ideas, and he was the one who said, 'Girl, you've got to get serious about your songwriting. You've really got something here.'"

As she wrote more and began moving toward artistic maturity, she released her third album, which came out as the second Gulf War erupted and never got the attention it deserved. Her fourth album neared completion as her label folded, and conversations with other labels made her realize it was time to regroup.

"Everyone had an opinion on who I should be or what I should do, saying, 'The record is too much this or not enough that,'" she says. "That's when I made the decision to step back from it all. I decided to take a break and figure out exactly what I wanted to do, and however long that took, I didn't care."

The process brought her back to the forefront and taught her a lifetime's worth of lessons.

"At the beginning of my career," she says, "I was probably more of an act on a label than an artist. I always knew I wanted more. I was young and still figuring it all out. Living out of the spotlight has made me an 'artist.'"

The fact that she is still just 24 leaves her with no regrets about either the journey or its ruts.

"I think it took every bump along the road to get me to where I am now," she says. "I'm much more at peace with being able to do what I love artistically and musically, and now I feel like this is truly me. These are my songs and people are jumping onto my team, and that makes me feel much more fulfilled as an artist."