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Place Like Brooklyn, Coming Soon!
Brooklyn , ten years
ago, an 8-year old Puerto Rican girl was determined to make it. She
penned a song called “Shine Like Me,” that became her first step
towards a singing career that she would ultimately pursue. Jeannie
Ortega had to travel through serious hardships before reaching her
ultimate destination. “I went through a lot of depression in my youth. I
didn’t have a walk in the park childhood. It was rough. I was just a
little girl, but I felt like I had so much responsibility.”
Growing up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn , New York , Jeannie’s
upbringing was quite a contrast from that of TV’s Beverly Hills
90210. “I saw friends get shot and chased by the cops. “Things
like that affected me, and I had to deal with all this at a young age,”
she confesses. With nowhere to turn, Jeannie found solace in music. “I
just listened to music, and it changed my world. It took me out of my
mind state into another realm,” she explains.
Music opened up a whole new world for
Jeannie Ortega, a girl who followed Hip-Hop and R&B music, but had a pop
appeal to her. And whenever she wanted to escape from her
not-so-pleasant environment, she listened to artists who sang things she
could feel. “One day, I was listening to Mariah Carey and that
experience changed a lot for me. Her words and emotions really spoke to
me and I hope I can make that same kind of sincere impact on someone
else’s life with my music,” says Jeannie.
As a member of the first graduating class
of Brooklyn’s High School of The Arts , Ortega is a natural at
performing. With years of practice under her belt, she is the total
package: singer, songwriter, dancer, and more. In her youth, Jeannie
performed at local parks (as “Spice,” one half of a kiddie singing group
she called “Sugar & Spice”), in front of her kindergarten class, and
numerous times throughout her school years. When her voice became
popular in the neighborhood and people started to seriously take notice,
Jeannie decided to go full speed ahead and focus on her dream. “I was
ready and jumped in feet first,” she says of the opportunity she was not
going to miss.
Now 18-years old, the Bushwick,
Brooklyn-native has much to be thankful for. After her first real
recording “Got What It Takes” wound up on the soundtrack and in the
movie Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Jeannie inked a major recording
deal with Hollywood Records and is now prepared to release her debut
album, aptly titled No Place Like Brooklyn.
Eager to share her talent, Jeannie wrote 11
of the 12 songs on the album. “I just write about what I feel. A lot of
people can relate to this stuff, not just people my age. I think we all
go through similar situations. We feel like we don’t know who we are. We
fall in love, we fall outta love. Everybody goes through love,” says
Jeannie, who—despite her tender age—has a wealth of life experiences to
share.
Her first single “So Done” produced by Soul
Shock & Karlin the production duo who have been behind hits for Whitney
Houston, Monica, JoJo and American Idol’s Fantasia to name a few, is
about a relationship gone sour. “I was in a relationship and when it
ended, I was heartbroken,” Jeannie says sincerely. But with such a
promising career ahead of her, Jeannie has learned to take her heartache
and turn it into future hit records. Learning from her mistakes, she
changes her tune on “What I Need,” where she uses the same situation as
a storyline, and lays down what she’s looking for in that special
somebody. Other standouts on the album are “It’s R Time” featuring
N.O.R.E., Gemstar and Big Mato ; “Crowded” produced by Stargate and
featuring hip hops big buzz artist of the moment Papoose; In addition,
to “Can U” featuring Quan which showcases Jeannie’s naughty side as she
invites a guy over while her parents are away.
In addition to pouring her heart out on the
tracks, Ortega’s warm personality shines through her music. Drawing from
musical influences in Hip-Hop, R&B, and pop music, Jeannie categorizes
herself as a “Hip-Pop” artist. And with a unique look and sound that is
street-inspired, yet still commercially viable, this feisty Latina on
the come-up has drawn comparisons to none other than
Jennifer Lopez. “J-Lo put us
Latinas on the map. She made people look at Puerto Rican women
differently. And in that respect, I look up to her.”
To be so young, Jeannie has overcome much
to get to where she is going. And on the road to stardom, the Hollywood
Records’ artist knows she’s got to have tough skin to survive her most
challenging trip yet. “Everything that I went through has made me a
stronger person and prepared me for this business. I want people to be
encouraged by that and say ‘look where she came from and look at her
now, just because she believed in herself.’ ”
Bio courtesy of TotalAssault.com |
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