Check Out Bianca Love’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Love.

Hi Bianca, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am grateful to have been born and raised in my favorite city in the world, to a community that has been integral in shaping my sound – New Orleans, LA. My family immigrated to the US from India in the 80’s, and my late father became a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Tulane University right before I was born.

I was always a singer – since age 5, Influenced by Black American Music, I sang and listened to tons of soul, gospel, bebop, and blues – and associated serenity with the brass bands that resonate through the streets of my hometown.

Unfortunately, my parents had other plans for me. Music was not a part of their life, and they thought the creation of it was “evil,” a distraction from other academics, and impractical. Being raised in a conservative Indian household meant that my early years were filled with anti-music sentiments – those that conflicted with my inner urge. I wasn’t allowed to play or practice music or associate with others who did. I always practiced vocal technique anyway and had a guitar for a couple of years until it was taken away (because I wanted to busk on the streets to gain experience). I was rebellious and determined to mimic the sounds that I heard all around me. By age 10, I had enrolled in my school choir against my parents’ wishes – that’s when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and pummeled through my beautiful city.

The aftermath of the hurricane and the solidarity of the community to rebuild only strengthened my creative calling – it made me sure that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I picked up a guitar at age 12 and began teaching myself.

As I became a teenager, my parents were doing everything in my power to keep me from practicing or learning my craft. When they caught me playing songs and uploading them to Youtube, my computer and instruments were taken away. The rest of my family shared the same sentiments, and I was alone in my journey. I was ridiculed by my family and turned into an outcast. I was also often bullied at school for being a strange, sheltered child who had grandiose musical dreams.

I excelled in all of my academics, but that wasn’t enough for them to allow me to play music. At age 15, I was a part of the now Grammy-winning Eleanor Mcmain High School choir and was invited to sing at The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with the sophomore class. My parents wrote to the school to make sure that I would not be allowed to sing. I felt like my dreams were being stifled, but I did not give up. The following year, in 2011, I was enrolled in boarding school in Calcutta, India – quite abruptly with no prior notice from my family – being wrenched away from New Orleans made me think that my musical aspirations had come to a halt.

Ironically, being moved to my family’s hometown of Calcutta (a city that cultivated of bebop, swing, and blues in India) did the opposite of what my parents thought would occur – instead of being turned away from music, I found the nooks and crannies of the city where I could perform the music that I loved. The boarding school situation did not help, so I got myself kicked out of the boarding school (but was still enrolled in school). I would then sneak out of my house and perform – and eventually enroll in Calcutta School of Music. I took an internship at Blooperhouse Studios under my friend Meghdut Roychowdhury and started to learn the fundamentals of production. A dear friend and extremely influential concert promoter, Nishit Arora, helped me dream my love of singing the blues into reality by giving me shows in Calcutta as I recorded and released my debut EP.

I was singing/accompanying myself as well as working with different bands – all over Calcutta, against my parents’ wishes.

As I finished high school, my parents made sure that I don’t apply for college in the US (knowing I want to study music). They took my transcripts and enrolled me without my permission in an English Honors course at Calcutta University. I went for a year, continued my internship at the studio and dropped out. I could not apply to other colleges in the US as legal dependent, nor did I have money to go back. My enraged parents cut ties with me and I decided to move to the other side of India on my own at age 18 to pursue music professionally. I only had a ring on my finger when I left my house and no money. I sold the ring for my first month’s rent as I looked for a job.

Moving to Pune, India, was a game-changer. I was young and nascent in my career but I found a lot of like-minded musicians and venues to play at. Broke but hopeful, I saved everything I made through singing at hotels, weddings, and tours. I took a 4 hour bus to the neighboring city of Mumbai every weekend to rehearse with musicians, take lessons and perform. After a couple of years, I moved to Mumbai. The opportunities had widened. I received a scholarship to Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in Chennai and briefly attended before returning to Mumbai to continue touring.

The same year that I moved away, I got the news that my father was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer and would be admitted to a hospital in Mumbai that week.

Visiting my dad in the hospital weekly left me with severe PTSD. I became closer to my family but was also admonished for not having a job other than music (and was pressured to marry before my father passed). I was struggling to balance my music career but let the anguish speak through my compositions. My father passed away nine months after the diagnosis. I was on stage at VANS New Wave Music Fest in Bangalore when I got the news. My manager at the time, the late Rishu Singh, consoled me through these trying times.

I went down a dark path with the PTSD induced from my father’s death and its aftermath, taking care of my heartbroken mother, and lack of familial support, and being stuck in a foreign country – but never stopped persevering – I was simultaneously playing and teaching music in multiple cities and states across India such as Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Assam, Trivandrum, Chennai, Shillong and Tura. I found welcoming communities everywhere that enjoyed my music and helped me learn and grow.

A year after my father passed, my mother decided to give me a trumpet for Christmas. My love for the instrument grew bountiful as I started practicing for hours a day, recalling the streets of New Orleans. I taught myself the fundamentals and slowly began to practice compositions by Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown and everything else I could find. The instrument brought me the healing I needed, and I aspired to be a professional trumpeter someday.

In 2017, my mom decided to bring me back to New Orleans while she decided to stay in India. I came under the mentorship of my bandleader, pianist and Tulane professor Jesse Mcbride as I started performing with The Next Generation Band at Prime Example Jazz Club on a weekly basis. I performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival the following year, seven years after I was forbidden by my family to perform at the same festival. That was the beginning of my journey through the vibrant New Orleans music scene. Eventually, I was playing regularly on Frenchmen Street and a multitude of other areas around New Orleans and the US (and even internationally). I was also acting in several film/TV productions and teaching music at an after school non-profit (Community Works).

In 2020, I got accepted to the prestigious Jazz Performance program at Temple University in Philadelphia, and like clockwork the pandemic came like a storm and took away all of my work – and I was unable to pay for the program.

My mother and little sister both contracted Covid, and New Orleans was in shambles. I had to start again from scratch, but I had done it before so I wasn’t scared. I saved up every penny once again and moved to Los Angeles – I didn’t know the future, but I wanted to be closer to nature during the long quarantine.

After a year in LA, I have found my home here amongst a rich community of musicians. I started hosting a jam session in K-Town throughout the summer to encourage cats to come out and play, and I now perform and teach music out here as well.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s definitely been immensely challenging to go through the process, but at the end of the day, it’s a process nevertheless. The path came with the blues, and the thing about the blues is that it can’t be gifted without obstacles.

Music has been a saving grace through everything I’ve gone through, in fact I don’t know what I would have been without it.

Having to leave my family to pursue my calling didn’t break me somehow, as I had big dreams – but the death of my father left me with very little hope. However, I just kept studying and playing the music. It would be my only release from the perils of the outside world.

I went down a dark path with the PTSD induced from my father’s death and its aftermath, taking care of my heartbroken mother, and lack of familial support, and being stuck in a foreign country – but never stopped persevering.

One thing was for sure – the blues in me became stronger.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a singer, trumpeter, guitarist and producer – I also dabble in acting and I am a vocal coach. I have played hundreds of venues, festivals and halls over the years, spanning the US, India, and Jamaica. I specialize in soul/bebop/blues.

I think what sets me apart is my journey and perseverance. I’m probably most proud of my growth on the trumpet over the years and how it motivates me to work harder every day.

After studying at Eleanor Mcmain Secondary School in New Orleans (a part of the now Grammy Winning gospel choir), I moved to India to resume my musical studies at Calcutta School of Music (Calcutta, India) and briefly at Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (Chennai, India). I returned to my birthplace of New Orleans to continue my music education under the mentorship of pianist Jesse Mcbride (Tulane University Professor of Practice and leader of Jesse Mcbride and the Next Generation) and trumpeter Ashlin Parker (Ellis Marsalis, Trumpet Mafia). I also studied with Nicholas Payton, Cyrille Aimee, and a number of other mentors over the years.

I debuted at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival with Jesse Mcbride and the Next Generation in 2018.

I have gotten the opportunity to share the stage with numerous revered artists in New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles such as Jesse Mcbride (as a part of the Next Generation Band), Mike Gurrola, Maurice Brown, Ben Williams, Kermit Ruffins, Reggie Quinerly, Marilyn Barbarin, Tony Austin, Ruslan Sirota, Roderick Paulin, Maison Guidry, Shea Pierre, Willie Green III, Khris Royal, and plenty more.

My upcoming record, “Seamless,” mixed/mastered by “Bassy” Bob Brockmann (D’angelo, Notorious BIG, Babyface, Tank and the Bangas, The Fugees, Christina Aguilera) is set to release by the end of the year or early 2022.

The single from the record, “TIME,” is produced by Maurice Brown (Anderson Paak, Tedeschi Trucks) and features Ben Williams on bass, Joe Blaxx (and Marcus Gilmore on the reprise) on drums, Takahiro Izumikawa on piano, and Maurice on trumpet.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I advise younger artists to study the music deeply and unrelentingly and to take a mentorship from someone who has played with/learned from the greats. Everyone has their own struggles and music/the arts always offers catharsis. The path isn’t ever easy, and if it is you might be doing something wrong – ha!

I definitely wish I took care of my mental/physical health better when I was going through trials and tribulations.

Self-care provides longevity, and that’s the good way to ensure one can be around long enough to keep making music.

Contact Info:

• Email: biancaloveofficial@gmail.com
• Website: http://www.biancalovemusic.com/portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebiancalove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/biancalovemusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAEcDRujWYLaGtaEmo_LVw
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/biancaloveofficial

Image Credits
Adam King, Alana Guarino, Jarrelle Lee, Trevan Meador, Viraag Desai