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Biographic Words: Knapp
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Jeen O'Brien is a gifted singer, blessed with a unique voice capable of tremendous range and power, but also, gentleness and intimacy. She is a respected songwriter and sought after collaborator. She is an intense and professional performer. But what sets her apart from countless other gifted singer songwriters is a quality that cannot be bought, sold, polished or produced. The girl's got soul. Jeen first appeared in the spotlight in the early nineties, as front woman for Toronto based band Lilith. She was "discovered" at the tender age of sixteen, busking on Toronto's Queen Street West. A diminutive figure with a powerful voice she soon caught the ear of local industry types. Before long she and her band were awarded a management and recording deal on the strength of her curb-side showcases. Lilith released one self titled independent album. The band toured extensively, both headlining and in support of some of the biggest Canadian bands of the time. Lilith were a favored act of Toronto's indie rock scene and received critical acclaim, both in Canada and stateside, but the band failed to live up to their own high expectations and disbanded in 1998. It wasn't long before Jeen was back at work, this time as a solo artist. Her first release, 2003's, Can't Get it Out of My Head, found her enjoying a freedom of expression that is not easily accessed when working within the constraints of a band. The six song E.P, produced by Mark Makoway (Moist) and Byron Wong, contained personal and emotional songs, (Mama), radio ready anthems, (American Dream), as well as the track Sailing by Me, for which she received second place honors in the rock category of the 2004 International Songwriters Competition (ISC). The video for Sailing by Me also received substantial rotation on Much Music and Much More Music. For Jeen, music is a full time job. She is a consistent and prolific songsmith, who enjoys writing for and collaborating with artists of all genres. She has penned tracks with soul artists ReS (MCA) and Toronto based Graph Nobel, while also lending her talents to more commercial artists, such as Billy Klippart, and Serena Ryder (Maple Music). More recently, her original composition "God" was recorded by Shaye (EMI), and will appear on their sophomore release. Jeen's solid reputation has also landed her work in television. She has also contributed songs to teen drama, Instant Star and was employed as a staff writer for the 2005 season of an immensely popular prime time reality show and talent search. Although Jeen enjoys the experience of collaborating with such a diverse group of talented artists, she finds fulfillment when writing, recording and performing her own material. In 2005, Jeen headed back into the studio to record tracks for her second release, entitled Sixties. This time she recruited, talented, multi-instrumentalists, performer/producer Hawksley Workman to produce the album. The result is a fully realized, intimate and highly personal recording. Sixties was well received by both fans and the media. Stand out tracks include the previously released, but freshly produced, and highly infectious single, Sing this Song, Guilty as Gold, the albums most passionate performance, and Fish, a quirky little song that highlights Jeen's skilled and distinctive finger picking style. Although still performing in support of Sixties, Jeen is focused on the future. She has begun writing songs for her next album and demos of new songs can be heard online on this website or at www.myspace.com/jeenobrien. In performance Jeen shines. Whether accompanying herself on guitar, backed by a band, or performing as a duo with husband and drummer, Stephan Szczesniak, her live show is a magical experience. She is a professional and experienced performer who harnesses remarkable energy. In concert, she is sweet and sensitive, soulful and sometimes, scary. She touches an audience in a way few can. She is simply captivating. Jeen O'Brien has faced life and the music industry on her own terms. Having left school, to pursue her calling in music before completing the tenth grade, Jeen has not once considered making a living in any other way. In an age of fads and fashion, she is refreshingly authentic. Jeen has talent, integrity, style and above all an uncompromising work ethic. Like luminaries of our time, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, Jeen O'Brien is a national treasure.
Jeen O’Brien - A Biography
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“I will sing this song until I hear somebody sing along/I will sing until I have saved everyone.” — Jeen O’Brien, “Sing This Song”
The line, taken from the first single on her Hawksley Workman-produced solo album, Sixties, is meant in a “Coca-Cola” sense, not Jeen’s determination to save the world.
“I will sing until I hear them one by one is more my point. I’ll sing until they’re all singing it. The ‘save’ was more of a filler lyrics to tell you the truth,” Jeen laughs. “I think one of the stronger lyrics is ‘to gather someone else’s greatness only to shatter mine.’ I don’t know if it’s too dramatic for the bio?”
Jeen is a strong, confident songwriter, a skill she has honed since she made a name for herself in the rock band Lilith more than a decade ago, but in a single laugh or comment she makes it seem like this ability fell from the sky. She’ll say she can’t remember writing something or calls the chorus of the love song “Fish” cute, or even points out what is throwaway in a song and what she deems important. She seems to have a perspective on the songwriting process and then none at all.
She can’t, however, shake this insatiable desire to compose. “If I don’t do it for a few days, I get bitchy,” she says. “I can’t stop.”
For this young woman who dropped out of school in grade 10 to pursue music, it is her calling. She moved out of her parents’ house, relocated from Bowmanville, Ontario to Oshawa, and finally Toronto, all in the name of rock ‘n’ roll — and never looked back. Today, she plays solo and with a band, and, on the side, has co-written songs for such blatant commercial pursuits as the talent search Canadian Idol and television series Instant Star.
“I do my own writing for myself which enables me to write for other people because my integrity is taken care of,” explains Jeen. “I don’t mind writing something different from what I would normally write because I have the things that are important and cool to me, in my own songs. I love co-writing situations because I’m not as conscious of that.”
What is her own and can be heard on Sixties is her unique vocal style, country tinged on one song, cool and raspy rock on another. It is almost as if she is in character. “I don’t think it’s so much a thought as it is a feeling that’s suited for it,” she says. “I don’t think, ‘Okay, I’m going to sing my country twang on or I’m going to sing softer.’ The different tones, I don’t consciously think of it at all.”
It’s a freedom that came when she did leave Lilith after releasing one self-titled indie album. Backed by a rock band, there was little room to move around vocally. As a solo artist, she can, whether she has accompanists to flesh out a song or is simply performing by herself on guitar.
For the follow-up to her 2003 debut solo EP, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head, Jeen demoed all the songs herself, then brought them to Hawksley’s home studio, situated in a school house in Huntsville, ON. “We had to live there for three weeks in this little cabin beside his studio and we camped there basically,” she says with a laugh.
“The basis of the recording came from the demos, but a lot grew afterwards. The drums were played to the demos, and the vocals and the harmonies pretty much stayed the same, but all the guitars and a lot of the strings were done after. The strings weren’t written by Hawksley, but he was a part of deciding that that would be a good idea. And Hawskley also played rhythm and lead on electric guitar and I played acoustic and electric.”
Not surprisingly, Jeen, a constant writer, feels like she has the next record ready, but with all the attention Sixties is getting, it might be a while before she can get back in the studio. In addition, she has written with MCA artist ReS; Billy Klippard recorded her co-write “It’s Killing Me;” and “Shaye is covering her song “God” on its sophomore album. More recently, she wrote with Serena Ryder and Kalan Porter.
“I guess that’s the way it is with any sort of job or business, the more you do it, the more efficient you become if you’re meant to be doing it,” says Jeen. “Things have never fallen in my lap, ever, in music, and I just can’t quit. It’s almost like a curse in a way. I don’t know what else to do. I mean, there’s other things that I enjoy doing, but I think music is the best thing I can do. If I’m going to succeed at something, I think I will be the most successful at this.”