Jes Hudak
Saratoga Springs, New York, United States
Music
Press
When I first tuned into the amazing voice of rising young singer, Jes Hudak, I knew I had discovered something great! This 29-year-old woman has a voice that can definitely make you stand up and take notice. Her broad range, from the operatic “Walk through Walls,” which she recently performed on Bravo TV’s Platinum Hit, to her spirited pop sound in “National Holiday,” this is a flavorful voice you will want to listen to over and over again. - HerLife Magazine
"Home For Me," a bittersweet ballad written as part of this week's road trip-themed challenge by Jes Hudak (who came up with the main hook) with Melissa Rapp and Amber Ojeda. The song is simply gorgeous. Goosepimply. It even thawed out Kara's icy heart, and guest judge Natasha Bedingfield said she could imagine herself singing it. - Yahoo.com
"Home For Me," a bittersweet ballad written as part of this week's road trip-themed challenge by Jes Hudak (who came up with the main hook) with Melissa Rapp and Amber Ojeda. The song is simply gorgeous. Goosepimply. It even thawed out Kara's icy heart, and guest judge Natasha Bedingfield said she could imagine herself singing it. - Yahoo.com
Why is Jes Hudak not a major superstar with many platinum hits to her credit already? Never mind all that. "Platinum Hit" has thankfully opened many doors for Jes, and we here at Yahoo! Music were delighted to open our doors for her when she recently came by to perform some of her original songs. And once again, she shined onscreen. - Yahoo.com
Here are some recent awards, nominations, and features:
Wins:
• ISSA’s Grand Prize Winner - Named Singer Songwriter of the Year 2009
• LA Music Awards 2009 – Pop Single of the Year for “Another Day”
• Ourstage.com Monthly Song Contest Grand Prize Winner in Pop, October 2009
• SongwriterUniverse Song of the Month Contest, June 2009
Features:
• AOL Featured Music Video of the Day, January 2010
• American Sound Song Contest featured artist, January 2010
• Hotindieartists.com interview and featured artist, Winter 2009-2010
• Sonicbids homepage week long feature, October 2009
• Purevolume homepage week long feature, March 2009
Nominations:
• LA Music Awards 2009 – 2 Nominations: Female Singer/Songwriter of the Year and Pop Single of the Year for “Another Day”
• 100% Music Songwriting Contest 2009 – Nominated in Acoustic for “Another Day”
• Independent Singer Songwriter Association (ISSA) 2009 – Nominated in Pop for “National Holiday”
• Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) 2009 – Nominated for Female Vocalist for “Another Day”
- jeshudak.com
Jes Hudak Interview for Know Your LA Bands by Brian McConnell for Beatcrave.com, 3/24/09
BeatCrave was recently fortunate enough to have a moment’s time with the wonderfully-talented, east coast transplant, Jes Hudak. With the release of her self-titled debut EP just weeks away (March 31st to be exact), Hudak has quite a bit to be excited about. As the hour before her music is brought to a much broader audience through iTunes and Amazon fast approaches, BeatCrave wanted to talk with the audaciously humble singer/songwriter and try to get a sense who she is. Simultaneously we wanted to learn how she manages to creates a sound that is both heartfelt and melodic with just the right amount of depth to really make the listener pause and realize they are listening to much more than just noise…they are listening to music. While we didn’t manage to crack the code of her genius, BeatCrave has certainly enjoyed getting to know Jes Hudak. We’re sure you will as well.
Where are you from originally?
Well, I was born in St. Paul, MN, went to elementary school in Pennington, NJ, moved to Saratoga Springs, NY at the start of 7th grade, which is where I consider myself from originally. I moved to NYC after high school, where I lived for five years before moving to Los Angeles. Basically, I’m an east coaster. I also happen to love the winter, so I don’t want to hear anymore of this “nothing beats the weather in L.A.” stuff everyone’s always saying.
Yeah, there really isn’t much “weather” in Los Angeles, it’s sunshine or rain. In what ways has living in Los Angeles effected your music?
I think all this sunshine is having an effect on the overall mood of my songs. They are coming out much happier, in major keys and everything! Also, my writing has definitely improved thanks to the people in LA that I’ve had the pleasure of co-writing with. I miss NYC terribly, I’m definitely a NY girl at heart, but for the time being I will suffer through all this terrible sunshine… Oh, poor me. Haha!
When did you decide that music was the career path you wanted to pursue?
I don’t really remember a time when music wasn’t the career path I wanted to pursue. As my mom tells it, I used to hum before I could talk, so I guess I’ve always been a musician. But I think the first time we all got a glimpse of the artist I am today was in the 4th grade talent show when I played the piano and sang, “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.” I didn’t really start writing songs and performing them for audiences until I was 12. At that point I discovered open mic night at Cafe Lena in Saratoga. A girl named Claire sat at the piano and played some original instrumentals and I realized that I could not only do that, but that was exactly what I wanted to do. I wrote songs almost every day and performed every week throughout middle school, junior high and high school. I even made a record called “In There Somewhere” in 9th grade.
What are you currently working on?
I am very excited about the upcoming (March 31st) digital release of my self-titled EP on iTunes and Amazon! Also, I just got my home studio up and running and just completed my first home recording masterpiece in over a year!
I really appreciate the lyrics of “Life Come True.” What/who was the inspiration behind that particular song?
I wrote “Life Comes True” the summer before I moved from NYC. It was inspired by a couple of people as well as an overall attitude I’ve witnessed in my time as a musician. A lot of people want to be famous, they don’t want to work hard, they don’t want to put in the time to be good, and they just want it all handed to them. This can be irritating. Just a little.
I think that’s a sensibility plaguing our generation, definitely. What are some (hardworking) artists/bands you are presently listening to that you wish more people knew about?
* School of Seven Bells: Their new album “Alpinisms” is available on iTunes. I used to work in the East Village with Claudia Deheza; this is her current group with her twin sister Alejandra.
* Coconut Records: Jason Schwartzman’s musical escapade - very Beatles-esque, delightful. “Davy” is the new record, but “Nighttiming” is great as well.
* Colin Smith: He’s a good friend of mine from NYC, he fronts a rock band called MrNorth, but I am a sucker for his solo acoustic music. We used to sing together all the time… Sigh, I miss living in New York.
What is one artist you would love to work with on a song or album?
One? You want me to pick one? I love collaborating with other artists so much, I love singing with other singers, harmonizing, writing, recording, you name it. For one, and I’m not afraid to say it, I’d love to make a record with Timbaland. After I heard what he did with OneRepublic, I knew he would just know what to do with my music.
Timbaland is a genius, without doubt. What is something most people don’t know about you but probably should?
- Beatcrave.com
Jes Hudak sits on the edge of the stage at an empty Caffe Lena. The 20-year-old is excited about the release of her second full-length album, “Tiny Dream.”
The legendary café, home to many storied songwriters, was the scene of Hudak’s first staged performance, during one of the cafe’s open mic nights.
“I love performing on stage. I thrive on it,” she says. “The only time I get nervous is
when I’m not on stage.”
Hudak has been performing her own material since she was 13. She already was a diligent
piano student, taking lessons - finally, she says - when she was in the second grade.
"I couldn’t wait for the day that I was tall enough to play the piano.”
On this day, a Yamaha acoustic guitar lies across her lap, an instrument that is a relatively
new toy in her musical arsenal.
“I recently started writing on the guitar,” says Hudak, explaining the enjoyment of novice simplicity, while idly strumming away on newly discovered chord progressions.
She dreamed of being a singer since the time she was a kid, growing up on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. As a teen, Hudak moved to Saratoga Springs, attending classes at the local high school before going on to study at Skidmore. Her focus of study has always been on music.
“Playing is what I really want to do and my parents have always been very supportive of me. My father reminds me to be positive and to stay positive. He comes to all my shows,” she laughs, “he’s my roadie, my chauffeur and my video tape-er.”
Despite her age, it is a mature songwriter with a rich voice who comes through on her second CD, “Tiny Dream,” - so much so - that it’s a little disconcerting to many when they come face-to-face with the skinny kid with the shy mannerisms.
“When people hear the songs their reaction is usually ‘That’s not you,’ and I have to remind them that ‘Yeah, it really is,’ “ she says.
“How did I catch the rain and hold on?” she sings on “Two Bodies,” one of 13 tracks on “Tiny Dream.”
The songs are a time capsule of her life, she explains, marked by “interpersonal relationships” and viewed by introspection. The CD is a document concerned with the themes running through everybody’s life: love, loneliness and a longing desire to make the human connection.
Pieced together in a linear fashion, “Tiny Dream” is a running narrative of a great human drama - one whose characters are blessed with strength, yet grapple with constant insecurity:
“Now I have to put my head down, look at the ground and wish I could tell you everything,”
she sings.
Most dramatic is the music itself.
“Tiny Dream” is a portrait of a singer and a piano, alone in a vast and holy cathedral
illuminated only by candlelight. When morning breaks over the dark horizon, the light
prisms flooding the room through stained glass bring the promise of a new day, and with it, another chance to fix all that went awry in the night.
It is Hudak’s inner psyche that is offered up for public consumption on the CD as well as on stage, and is a sparseness that works, mostly because the quality of her song writing is high,
as is the level of sincerity and compassion she brings to the performance.
By Thomas Dimopoulos / The Saratogian (Sep 22, 2002) - The Saratogian
Jes Hudak is a talented singer-songwriter-pianist based in New York whose freshly released demo features many incredible songs. One of which, ‘No One In The World,’ is featured here. Instantly memorable, Hudak’s voice is strong and clear and the song seems destined for radio if given the right springboard.
You can find Hudak’s untitled demo available through her live shows and more samples can be found on her official site as well as on MySpace.
Hudak’s sophomore album, Tiny Dream is also available through CD Baby.
- womenfolk.net (Feb 12, 2006) - womenfolk.net
Discography
1997: In There Somewhere - out of print
2002: Tiny Dream - out of print
2010: National Holiday - available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and CDBaby
2010: Haze Diaries vol. 3 by Gotham Green and Quickie Mart - wrote/performed on 4 tracks
2011: Eviction Notice mixtape by Wax - wrote/performed on 2 tracks
2012: Bang, You're Dead - Alive (single) - available on Beatport and iTunes
2012: Different Worlds (single) - available on iTunes
Photos
Bio
Up until now, Jes Hudak was perhaps best known for her formidable songwriting and live performances on Bravo’s reality show, Platinum Hit, where she placed second out of thousands of contestants from all over the country. But now, with Bravo in her rear view mirror, Jes has found a brand new audience on the other side of the world. After being featured heavily in the promotional campaign for “The Voice,” Australia, Jes’s performance of the song “Different Worlds” made its way up the Australian pop charts, achieving gold status.
The result has been a whirlwind of attention from fans down under, propelling Jes’s version of “Different Worlds” to the Number 6 spot on the Australian iTunes chart, and it has been featured in commercials for Home & Away and Tricky Business, both prime time TV shows in Australia. The groundswell of fans and attention from the music industry has led to the release of Jes Hudak’s deluxe full-length album, “Different Worlds,” available exclusively in Australia.
Like most careers in music, Jes’s has been one marked by unpredictable twists and turns, but from a very young age the upstate New York native knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. She started playing piano at the age of 8. By 13 she was performing songs she had written at Caffe Lena’s Open Mic Night in Saratoga Springs, NY. After being discovered by an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College who had a recording studio, she recorded her first collection of songs and self-released her first album. She was in the ninth grade.
“My Dad would drive me out to the studio after school and then I’d have to be back in time to get my homework done,” she says.
Since then, Jes has recorded, produced and self-released two albums, performed on the same stage as such prominent artists such as Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw, Howie Day, Tonic and Five for Fighting, and toured with Enrique Iglesias as the sole female backup singer for the Central American leg of his Insomniac 2008 tour. She’s sung the National Anthem at Giants Stadium and has performed in a national Pantene commercial.
In 2010 she performed at Lilith Fair in Los Angeles, after winning the SoCal Lilith Fair Contest on Ourstage. She was also named ISSA’s Singer/Songwriter of the Year 2009, and won Pop Single of the Year 2009 at the LA Music Awards for her original song “Another Day.”
Her last official US release, National Holiday, comprised of five self-penned tracks, showcases both her songwriting prowess and her considerable performance chops. The EP’s title track, National Holiday, won the Billboard World Song Contest in Pop, and her music video for “No One In The World,” another track on the EP, was selected as AOL’s Featured Music Video.
When she wasn’t playing gigs at Hollywood’s Hotel Café and NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall and other venues in between, Jes got the opportunity to try out for “Platinum Hit.”
Bravo's “Platinum Hit” showcased emerging singer-songwriters on their quest to become the next big hitmaker. The series followed 12 musicians as they battled through innovative songwriting challenges that tested their creativity, patience and drive.
“It was a very intense experience and it helped me to understand how much I could handle in that kind of environment,” says Jes about her experience on the show. “Getting the chance to get in front of somebody like (Head Judge) Kara DioGuardi who’s such a heavy hitter as a songwriter, and get direct feedback from her was invaluable. There’s no way I’m going to let anything I learned on that show go to waste.”
The show has had a profound effect on Jes so far. “My writing process is completely different now,” she says. “I used to be very precise and not edit, writing one line at a time. My notebooks looked really neat. Now I do free-writing, stream-of-consciousness, until I get to the good stuff. And I’m not afraid to edit!”
Jes loves using her songwriting and performance skills to collaborate, having released tracks with rappers Freddie Gibbs, Wax, and Gotham Green. She also fronts the electronica/soul duo “Bang, You're Dead” with DJ/producer Quickie Mart.
This fall, Jes will be releasing a self-produced full-length solo album, as well as a full-length album as Bang, You’re Dead. She is also producing a hip-hop EP with New Orleans rapper/artist Know One. And with regular videos posted on youtube and daily twitter buzz, it’s easy to keep up with all of Jes’s latest happenings. Enjoy the music!
Band Members
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