Meet Jennifer Claude

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Claude.

Hi Jennifer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a southern girl from Wilmington, NC – a small eclectic beach city right on the coast. Music is in my blood, I’m certain if you slice me open, there’s some sand, a few seashells, & some strings or maybe keys or something inside!! LOL. I started playing around on my Mom’s piano when I was maybe four years old. I went through a traumatic experience as a child, & my therapist suggested to my Mom that she buy me journals to help me express my feelings. I started writing when I was seven years old and never stopped. I then started playing violin when I was 12. All of my life, I was a nerd who didn’t fit in anywhere, but music was always my safe haven. I grew up in church singing in the choir, doing poetry for special occasions, & playing my violin during special events. Music has literally been my life for as long as I can remember. I remember the moment I knew I was going to actually arrange & produce music. I was sitting in my room listening to my boombox, I think I was ten, and I kept rewinding the tape back and back and studying how the music was put together. I was listening to all of the backgrounds and I was singing along finding my own harmonies and writing my ideas down in my journals, I remember saying to myself out loud “I’m going to be the person who writes the song & takes all the sounds & puts it all together!!”. Music shuttled me from childhood to my teenage years to my young adult years.

In college, I was on the road to becoming a classical violinist who would travel with some kind of symphony (that dream was fuzzy but it was safe & I was determined to make it work) – I was a double major in Pre-Med & (Music) Violin Performance. I eventually made the choice to fully pursue my career in music in the entertainment industry as a writer & composer. In 2014 I made a trip to LA for two weeks to literally take a leap of faith and see what I could make happen. I did a ton of networking at the ASCAP Conference I was attending, got an opportunity to record my first two “professional” records at THE Paramount Recording Studios, and made some amazing connections with a few engineers and producers. Fast forward to 2018 and I was just so frustrated with where I was in my career & I said my prayers and told God I was ready! I knew if I didn’t make a move NOW, I would never make it, So I found a job, booked a one-way ticket, packed my suitcase, grabbed my Tigger, & hopped a flight to LA! These past two years have been amazing, lonely, stressful, productive, crazy, scary, exciting, & insane. I am so grateful for my opportunities and would never trade this moment in my life. I thank God every day for the chance to wake up and actually get out of bed and do what I love to do and what I told myself I’d do as a child.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
These past two years have been amazing, lonely, stressful, productive, crazy, scary, exciting, & insane. I moved here by myself with no family insight, and I didn’t realize what kind of toll that would take on my psyche, Not to mention that in 2020, the world shifted and we entered a pandemic which has pushed my solitude & loneliness to a level I never knew existed. I am homesick, I haven’t seen my Mom since July 2019. I have spent two Christmases alone so far…it has been a rough time. But I am aware that, to get something you’ve never had you have to do things you’ve never done. My career has been blossoming and flourishing and moving up and up, even in the midst of a pandemic. I closed on some of my biggest deals to date in 2020. It’s so weird because I HAVE to force myself to find balance.

I celebrate wins while crying tears of joy but then they turn to tears of sadness because I’m looking like “I wish my Mom was here…I wish I could go celebrate this moment with my besties!!” I have spent so many days at the beach overlooking the water praying and meditating. Making peace with my feelings, telling myself it’s okay to celebrate my wins while simultaneously hoping for brighter days. This is LA. Everyone has a story. Everyone has a dream. Everyone is struggling. I’m strong, I’ll make it through. And to be clear, it’s not all bad…my west coast tribe is slowly showing up in my life. I have a tiny handful of budding friendships that I’m so thankful for. Overall, I am so grateful for my opportunities and would NEVER trade this moment in my life. I thank God every day for the chance to wake up and actually get out of bed and do what I love to do!!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a professional singer-songwriter, vocal producer, vocal coach, executive producer, & light beam!! I am best known for my songwriting & vocal production chops. I am most proud of how I see myself getting better before my own eyes. I am creating professional relationships that are opening doors for me and I am starting to get the validation for my evolving growing expertise. I am starting to get the calls to come in and vocal produce for artists, to write for artists, to executive produce records for streaming networks and so on and so forth. What sets me apart, I think is my work ethic and my personality. No one will ever outwork me. I show up to the studio ready to dig in. I do my best to push myself when I’m having bad days. I try not to make excuses because there are no shortcuts to success. I remember having two sessions at a studio one week back to back and no one knew that I was living out my truck at the time. I had such great sessions that night!! I learned during that time that your circumstances don’t define YOU & your character – you control that!! Aside from all that, I also like to bring love and passion to whatever I’m working on. I’m hard on the artists I work with because I’m hard on myself. I expect crazy work ethic because I possess crazy work ethic. But I also want to play hard. I want to laugh a lot. I want to create relationships and safe spaces with everyone I work with. I may not leave every session being everyone’s friend, but I will touch everyone in a positive way and leave some sunshine wherever I go!!

What makes you happy?
Taking the time to live in the moments and existing in an eternal space of gratitude. Life is hard, unexpected, & unfair. The beauty in life is living, exploring, taking in the sunsets, breathing in the ocean air, singing at the top of your lungs at red lights, eating tacos at 3am because you want to, long hot baths, meeting new people, laughing until you get stomach cramps, random road trips, etc., etc. Gratitude keeps you grounded, living in the moments keep you lifted. It’s all about balance. And finding that balance is true happiness.

Contact Info:

• Email: bookings@jenniferclaude.com
• Website: www.jenniferclaude.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/iamjdotclaude
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/iamjdotclaude
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/iamjdotclaude
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5U-b05JaEUru9YzV5T0zvw
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/iamjdotclaude
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/JenniferClaudeVEVO/videos

Image Credits
Chris Charles