"Queens" A TRIBUTE TO OUR MOST BELOVED FEMALE ARTISTS

Hard work and tenacity define Jordan Quinn.
Settling behind an electric keyboard to play covers for the diner crowd at Fratello's in Manchester on a frigid Saturday night, Jordan Quinn is logging a few more of the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in his book "Outliers". Since mid-2021 the 23-year-old singer has done more than 300 gigs, and her calendar remains packed.
Most of her sets are like this one, with lots of soulful ballads - Whitney Houston is a favorite. She'll make multiple tables look up and take notice when she hits the key change on her rendition of "I Will Always Love You." Quinn also can make a song all her own. Her take on Al Green's playful "Let's Stay Together" is reinvented as a plaintive plea to a distancing lover.
Occasionally, like during a recent set with her band at Hennessy's in Boston, Quinn will dip into a growing catalog of originals that started with the easygoing "Dram World" about a year ago. Her latest, "Can We Become Friends." shows Quin's growing maturity as a songwriter. It's a response to the war in Ukraine but addresses problems closer to home.
Inspired by Michael Jackson's "Earth Song," it's boosted by an angelic choir that's almost entirely Quinn. "I was supposed to have a few buddies in the studio to do the choir part and everyone canceled on me," she said in a phone interview. "So it's actually 13 tracks of just my voice, with the exception of one, which is my bass player."
Quinn released the video for the song early, spurred by a recent shooting outside Manchester nightclub; the victim was a casual friend of hers. "To just see that some random person was able to take his life so easily, it just really affected me," she said. "This needs to be done, the whole violence thing... life is precious."
The title cut of her debut album in progress is about striving to become and belong. Quinn wrote "Somebody" while in Los Angeles preparing to meet with a potential manager.
"I've had a lot of hard times with self-confidence, figuring out the path that I want to be on," she explained. "This was a reminder to myself that everything will work out you're where you're supposed to be, and things will get better. Then I was like, why not share this message with other people? Because I know I'm definitely not the only person that feels this way."
Quinn penned a lot of songs on that West Coast trip. She found being in a place where so many performers are looking for a foothold very inspiring.
"I definitely liked being out there and seeing all the talent and everything; it motivated me to just push," she said. "All these people are trying to be somebody... it doesn't need to be the entire world, where everyone knows your name. Just one little thing to make a difference."
Born in Manchester, Quinn relocated to Connecticut with her mother while in fourth grade. "This whole time, my dad still lived in New Hampshire," she said. "I would do the trip twice a month to see him on the weekends." After high school, she went to South Carolina for a year, then returned to move in with him and enroll in the theater program at UNH.
Her father encouraged his daughter's creative urges, taking steps to help her find her way.
"My dad is the sole reason that it all happened," she said. "he knew [local musician] Chad LaMarsh and kind of took it upon himself to see what would happen if he introduced us... I've been on this path ever since."
She eschews many modern artists, calling her singing range similar to Ariana Grande's, but adding that she's not a fan of her music. "I used her vocals as an influence for mine," Quinn said, but "instrumentally, I'm really into rock like Queen, and then Micahel Jackson and Whitney Houston. I try to incorporate their styles along with everyday pop."
She's sung "Somebody to Love" with tribute act Queen Flash on a few occasions and will open for them later this year.
For now, Quinn stays on her Gladwell path, night after night. "My goal is to continue to find myself," she said. "Testing my abilities... seeing how far I can go. I don't really have any career goals [beyond] improving who I am as an artists, and really seeing what I am capable of." - The Hippo

Queens honors great women of song.
For her one-woman show "Queens", Jordan Quinn sets a high bar, channeling iconic singers from Ella Fitzgerald to Adele. Her impressive list also includes Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Lady Gaga, Donna Summer, Chaka Khan, and Quinn's personal favorite, Whitney Houston.
"I save Whitney as the last song of the night because she's just the best vocalist ever, and her ear is phenomenal," Quinn said in a recent phone interview. "Of all of those women, it's always Whitney I relate to most musically." In particular, she draws inspiration from the story of how Houston came to record "I Will Always Love You," her biggest hit.
"The first time she heard that song, she rejected it, because it was a country version, Dolly Parton, right? Then her buddy came up to her and... encouraged her to listen to the song with her ears -- what would she do with it? She listened again and then decided that she would do it."
To Quinn, trailblazing is was makes a singer Queens-worthy.
"A woman who was able to influence those to come and who other artists strive to be like," she said, which explains the inclusion of many contemporary artists. "Lady Gaga is important because she brought a lot of techno to the music. Adele because of all the soul and jazz elements; she kind of keeps that genre alive."
Though she includes songs from the Queens lineup in her solo act, the show itself is new, first performed Sept. 16th in Dover. Quinn's father suggested the idea a few years ago. "He presented it to me, and I was just way too shy to even attempt to do this," she said. "Then I started working with some other tribute bands, and I started learning from them."
Prominent among those groups is Queen Flash; she sang "Somebody to Love" with them on a few occasions. She opened for them at Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury, Mass., earlier this year. "Freddie Mercury is my person, Queen," Quinn said with a laugh.
For Queens' debut in her hometown of Manchester on Friday, Oct. 13th, the audience will be invited to take part, with a Halloween costume element. "I think it would be super fun to have them come dressed up as their favorite queen," Quinn said, noting that there will be a red carpet for participants to walk across before her performance.
Choosing which song to do was almost harder than picking singers, so she decided against locking one tune in for each.
"Now that we have the foundation down, the idea is, let's learn a couple of songs from each artist," she said. "Then, night of the show, let's figure out which ones we want to do. That way, it's not the same thing every time."
She's still looking at adding artists.
"It's crazy," she said. "I don't have Britney on there and I don't know why, but I need her. Christina Aguilera. There are just so many. Taylor Swift, especially after her tour this year, she's just totally popping off and I'm like, 'Great another woman!' It's gonna be a four-hour show."
A theater kid growing up, Quinn shaped the evening into more than a concert. She had help from her dad, who isn't a musician but has solid instincts. "It's insane to me that he's not in the business," she said. "He comes up with the ideas and then I take on the theatrical side of it... like 10 to 15 costume changes, an apron, and fake prop milkshakes for 'She Works Hard for the Money.' It's a lot of fun."
Quinn's group for the show includes guitarist Ben Holida, Moira Applebaum on keys, A rhythm section of drummer Scott Armstrong, and bassist Matt Nemeskal, along with the backing vocalists Genesis Toledo and Rebecca Turmel.
"Their talent is just phenomenal," Quinn said. "I truly wouldn't be here without them." - The Hippo