Michelle Rounds

Michelle Rounds
Background information
Birth name Michelle Rounds
Born (1962-04-29) April 29, 1962
Sydney, Australia
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Years active 1990–present
Labels
  • Spectra Records
  • Cumquat Recordings/SPR, Fiji
  • Mangrove, New Caledonia
  • PI Inc, Japan
  • Michelle Rounds, Independent
Website michellerounds.com

Michelle Rounds (born 29 April 1962) jazz vocalist is a Pacific Island singer-songwriter, recording artist, performer and voice teacher.

Early life

Born in Sydney, Australia, the eldest daughter of five children to Barbara May (Bennet) and John Victor Rounds, Rounds was brought up in a musical environment with her architect father being a professional singer, guitarist and composer, and her grandmother Bonita (Latu), a multi-instrumentalist and singer, who had the first all-girl band in Suva, Fiji in the early 1940s.[1]

Her father's youngest brother, Victor Rounds, is a Sydney bassist. Rounds's mother is descended from European pioneers of the Rai Valley, South Island, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and her father was of Fijian, Tongan and Samoan ancestry - her grandmother was Tongan.

Her family moved to Fiji from Australia when she was 11, where they lived for 8 years. Over the years she has lived and performed in numerous cities around the world, such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia; Suva, Fiji Auckland, New Zealand; Miyazaki, Japan; and Cairo, Egypt, where she has collaborated with local musicians and artists.

Career

Rounds has a wide vocal range and is known for her innovative scatting which is more like instrumentation than singing. As quoted by Amira El-Naqeeb in her article Street and Sophisticated, "she posses a voice that takes one's breath away".[2]

She has currently released 6 albums and been featured on 4 collaborative albums[3] and is a staunch supporter of using native language and dialect, and of collaboration with local musicians and singers ~ she wrote and released "Let Me See Now" in 2005 which features Japanese rap artists Steal & Shorty[4] who rap in Japanese and for which a music video was also released, and in 2014 released "Time & Space"[5] with Egyptian youth, Lil.garhy, who raps in Arabic and at the time of recording was 17 years old. In 1998 she won a Te Reo Award from TVNZ for her cover of Fijian classic Era Bini Tu. This award is given to people who are using indigenous languages in their music and thus keeping the languages alive.

She regularly works with Nabil Khemir, Cesar Mora, and in the Australasia region with Tom Mawi.[6]

She has been performing in Cairo, Egypt since 2009,[7] and has performed at the Cairo Opera House, Kempinski Nile Hotel,[8] El Sawy Culturewheel,[9] and is a regular performer at Cairo Jazz Club.[10] In 2014 she began giving vocal training to Egyptian children and adults.[11] Her vocal sessions involve healing work and all round support of the individual to assist them in becoming the best artist possible. She believes in mentoring and supporting new artists and has demonstrated this over the years.

Personal life

Rounds resides in Cairo, Egypt where she lives with her husband. She teaches and tours extensively and continues to support new artists and the use of indigenous and local languages.

Discography

Original work

Original lyrics

Awards

Albums

Featured on:

Labels

Festivals

References

  1. ↑ Chaudhary, Felix (2014). "Music was the norm". The Fiji Times Online. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. ↑ El-Naqeeb, Amira (2011). "Street and Sophisticated". Al-Ahram Weekly. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Discography". Michelle Rounds. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Let Me See Now". You Tube. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Time & Space (feat. Lil Ghahy)". Amazon.
  6. ↑ Finnegan, Ruth. Music Reflections. p. 311. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Bainimarama, Rear Admiral J.V. "Speech at the Fiji Performing Rights Association Music Awards 2014". The Fijian Government. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Diack, Hilary (2012). "Jazzing Cairo Up: Michelle Rounds at Kempinski Nile Hotel's Jazz Bar". Cairo West. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Amro Salah Jazz Trio ft Michelle Rounds". Cairo Scene. 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Cairo Jazz Club". Cairo Jazz Club. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Wanas Art & Design". Facebook. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  12. ↑ The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002. Psychology Press. 2002. p. 441. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
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