Finding her essence
S.F singer/songwriter learns by doing

BY JIM HARRINGTON
Special to The Examiner
Publication date: 06/06/2002

It wasn't supposed to be this difficult.

At least, not according to the road map to the stars that the young San Francisco-based singer known as essence used to make her way down to Hollywood back in the mid-'90s.

An aspiring singer-songwriter, essence -- just "essence," with a lowercase "e" -- figured all she had to do was head south on Interstate 5 and she'd shoot into the spotlight. As every mile passed under her tires, she believed she was one step closer to answering her childhood dream of becoming the next Madonna.

Oh, isn't youth grand?

"I was really wide-eyed when I first started pursuing music. I thought it was going to be easier than it is," she says. "So, I got in my car and drove down to L.A. in my CRX with my first music video -- which, by the way, you will never see -- and my demo.

"I didn't have a manager. I didn't have any appointments. I had a yellow pages of rock and the address books of record companies. And I just showed up on their doorsteps and said, 'Here I am. I'm the one you've been waiting for.'

"And, needless to say, that was the wrong approach."

Ultimately, she got the right results, however. Saturday she plays Great American Music Hall to mark the release of her second CD, "Mariposa."

Sure, the album isn't on a major label as she had hoped. And it's not likely to compete with Eminem for the top of the Billboard pop charts. But it is an album that essence is rightfully very proud to have made.

With "Mariposa," she has a mature work that draws convincingly from a stew of pop music and acoustic folk traditions, updating the classic singer-songwriter sound with the use of modern electronics. The result is a very contemporary record she hopes will appeal to a broad range of music fans.

Natural storyteller
Of course, the most important parts of any singer-songwriter record are, well, the singing and the songwriting. And essence delivers on both fronts. She is a natural storyteller with a convincing voice, and the songs she assembles on "Mariposa" are smart, poignant and believable. You could say they are the essence of essence.

"It's incredibly personal," she says of the new album. "These songs are from a deep place. Things didn't work out with me the way I expected them to with the record companies. I definitely went through a dark night of the soul, and I drew from that experience. This is the record that I meant to make."

The road to stardom: San Francisco-based signer essence's journery to success has hit a lot of speed bumps.

Born into a bohemian family of flower children in the Haight-Ashbury district, essence seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of her parents, who both worked in the visual arts. However, there was no pressure to become an artist. In fact, there wasn't much pressure at all.

"I grew up with no structure or no traditional values. My parents are extraordinarily liberal," essence says. "I grew up living all over the world -- Africa, Europe, all over. I went to 14 schools before the fifth grade. There was nothing typical about my upbringing.

"My parents just wanted me to find something that made me happy. And the one thing that made me happy was music."
Of course, not everyone in the family was supportive of her career choice.

"(My grandfather) was on the soapbox trying to get to be a politician for I can't tell you how long. He's still very disappointed that I'm not the next Dianne Feinstein," she says. "He says that he won't come and see me until I am headlining the Oakland Coliseum."

Her road to headlining the Oakland Coliseum has taken a number of detours after a very promising start.

After releasing her first CD, "Conception, in 1997, essence got national exposure when her song "Glitter Gone" was featured on an episode of CBS' "Nash Bridges."

Joining the fair
The following year, she won the National Lilith Fair Talent Search and played two years at the high-profile celebration of women in music. As part of a Lilith gig in 1999, essence performed with Natalie Merchant, the Indigo Girls, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Baez and others in front of more than 80,000 people at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

During this time, essence was signed to two major label record deals. Unfortunately, both fell through before a studio CD could be produced.

For right now, essence is just enjoying having independently released her first album in nearly five years. She has weathered the backlash against female singer-songwriters that came after the unexpected, unprecedented success of Lilith Fair. And essence believes the tide is finally turning in her favor again.

"It seems like people are ready to hear something besides Britney," she laughs. "And I'm really happy for that."

essence performs at 9 p.m. Saturday at Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell St., San Francisco, with Noelle Hampton and Liz Anah. Tickets are $12. Call (415) 885-0705 or visit www.gamh.com.