she's got attitude

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she's got attitude

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AT FIRST GLANCE, JACLYN VICTOR

can easily pass off as a meek andconservative little girl. Few wouldguess that this petite and slenderyoung lady has a resonant and powerfulvoice that chills your spine! The onlyhint is her wide mouth that constantlybreaks into an even wider smile.Jaclyn on stage is nothing like the

girl you'll see curled up on her bed athome with her newfound interest -tarot cards! Here in the privacy of herroom, with a collection of alll1ringArt-Deco-sty.!e portraits of Tamara deLempicka on the bathroom door; windchimes, a dream catcher hanging inthe bedside window; and numerousbooks on spells, tarot readings and allthings mystical, Jaclyn is still some-what child-like.She is a chatterbox, has a very short

attention span, and flits about with abubbly and enigmatic energy. The tarotcards, she says, are another phase sheis going through. ''I'm not a witch oranything. I'm just very fascinated withthe cards, spells and all sorts of mysticaloccult so I'm just reading up on them,"she says with a mischievous smile.

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Her mum, Maggie, is not as con-vinced but still lets her do her thing.This is part of her daily life when sheis not 'working' - which meansperforming during the weekend atThe Viper Room, a small pub in KLPlaza, promoting her newly releaseddebut album.With a microphone in her hand,

instantly the child-like girl vanishesand a sassy siren takes over. Shecaptivates the audience with herdistinctive vocal range, energeticstage performance and her obviouspassion for music. Performing atclubs and pubs such as this has beenpart of her life since she was 18."Jaclyn has enjoyed singing since

she was a child. I know her potentialso I have always indulged her. She givesit her all when she is on stage and itmakes her truly happy," says Maggie.Jaclyn's love for singing and music

is innate. For as long as she canremember, she was singing, thoughshe never took any formal vocal lessons.At 10, she sang in the Christmaspageant in church, and her voicesparked interest. From then on shewould join in talent times and otherchurch activities, but never thoughtof pursuing singing as a serious goal.She was 'discovered' when she

auditioned for a rock band calledJJeds - and this is when she firstbegan working with Ravi S., whosoon became her friend and collabo-rator. He was the guitarist in theband, and the moment he heard hersing a line from Nothing'S ConnaStop Us Now by Starship, he knewthis girl was going to go places. Itwas then that they began performingin clubs.

DARING TO DREAM

The release of her debut album ispurely an independent effort. Afterworking together for so many years,Jaclyn and Ravi decided it was time totest their mettle. The album, aptlytitled Dreams, features songs writtenby the both of them.Infused with a lot of rock influences,

the album is a medley of genres.From a melodic ballad to Countryand Western, swing, and hard rock, it

brings out the best ofJaclyn's vocalsand versatility."We work really well together - on

many occasions, Jaclyn would startpenning a few lines and I would justpick it up and finish it off. We wouldthen start working on the melody wewant. In that way, Jaclyn is very seriousabout her work. She is intenselydedicated and a joy to work with.Aside from being my collaborator,she is also my best friend," says Ravi.

"She gives it her

all when she is

on stage and it

makes her truly

happy."

They funded the entire projectprivately from their savings, andmanaged to convince a few closefriends to invest in them. Initially,they did try to approach a few of themajor record labels but, though manywere interested, they wanted too muchout of it. "We didn't understandwhy we had to give the label 84%of the profit with a mere 16% splitbetween the artist and the composer.When we told them we wanted to sellat least 2000 copies, they told uswe'd be lucky if we could sellsoo!"Ravi added.Some labels also said that, while

they loved Jaclyn's voice, they felt hermusic was far too mature for theMalaysian audience. None of thisdeterred them, however, from pushingforward. Instead of giving in to thedemands of bigger labels, Jaclyndecided to take matters into her ownhands and set one up on her own!Mayhem Records was born. "We

don't really have big expectationswith this album - we just wanted todo what we believed in and see howfar it can go," says Jaclyn.Cetting support from the local media

was also a tiring task. They had to pushreally hard. Radio stations such asMix FM were very supportive in play-ing her singles. "It's all been a goodlearning experience for us, and I guessin order to get full support we haveto prove ourselves first", she added.

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DETERMINED

PERSEVERANCE

At 26, Jaclyn can honestly claim thatshe has arrived - fuelled by determi-nation and guided by perseverance.From the time she lost her dad at theage of 10, she knew she had to assumea lot more responsibility and learn totake the struggles ahead in her stride.Jaclyn's father was a very conservative

man and preferred her mum to stayhome rather than work. So, when astartling and fatal accident took himaway from his family, Jaclyn's mumhad to start to fend for her family.Being the oldest, Jaclyn knew she hadto back her mum's efforts to makeends meet."I think my dad's passing made me

grow up in a hurry. Even as a child,Iknew not to ask for money and learntto save. I would walk 20 minutes toschool just so I could save on bus fareand use the money for other things!"she recalls with a laugh.Still, this sacrifice was small com-

pared to the many she would chooseto make as she grew older. Coing tocollege after high school, for instance,was something Jaclyn did not evenbother to consider because she hadthree younger brothers and she knewshe had to work first - at least untilthey left school.For some, such struggles from an

early age may have created bitternessor cynicism. Yet for Jaclyn, it only madeher stronger and more determined fora better life. Even after sacrifices/ shedoes not regret anything in her life."I believe that even when something

bad happens, good things can andwill come out of it. That's why life isbeautiful for me," she confides. Her

HI believe that even when something badhappens, good things can and will comeout of it. That's why life is beautiful for me."

courage and belief have surely paid off.Jaclyn has managed to support herfamily, buy herself a little car, and stillsave enough to invest in her dream ofcutting an album.Still, she is not giving up the idea of

a formal education. "I think I should

PHOTOGRAPHY NICHOLAS @ M8 STUDIO

have something to fall back on, and Ican see myself going back to schoolsome day. Perhaps something inPublic Relations or Languages - likeSpanish. I've been studying that onmy own and really love it," she remarksthoughtfully.It doesn't take long to notice that

Jaclyn has a strong head on hershoulders. Still, despite growing uptoo soon, the child in her is still aliveand kicking. She lives each day with a

sense of idealism that is refreshing ina cynical world. However, she iscertainly not naive.Jaclyn has a tendency to 'chill' a lot

of the time, taking everything slow.She may fool around and refuse toget serious during interviews andphoto shoots, but when it's time toget down to business, she does so.As endearing as all these qualities are,her most prominent is her obviousand genuine warmth.This is what makes her shine each

time she takes centre stage. "As aperformer, Jaclyn has grown tremen-dously. She is no longer shy in frontof a large audience and in fact ismost comfortable there," says Ravi.On this point Jaclyn agrees: "I love

live performances far more thanrecording at the studio." Nevertheless,she made no fuss during long sleep-less nights while cutting the album.Ravi also comments that she has

developed a strong personal style overthe years - not only with her bouncystage performances, but also with hervoice. She may listen to a lot of softjazz, Nina Simone, Dixie Chicks andR&B, but the influence of her earlydays singing male rock numbers withJJeds still dominates. Her voice hasdeveloped in the style of Steven Tylerand other hard rockers.This distinctive style, combined

with Jaclyn's haunting voice, resultsin a raspy and husky sound that youcan hear from far. And will doubtlesshear more ... V