GRACE WEBER HOMETOWN: Wauwatosa, Wisc. INFLUENCES: Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan ALBUM: The Refinery, due October 2014 WEBSITE: graceweber.com GROWING UP IN THE MILWAUKEE SUBURBS, YOUNG Grace Weber drew musical inspiration from a somewhat unlikely source. “When I was 12, I joined a gospel choir in the inner city and discovered this amazing soul scene,” she says. In 2006, Weber earned the prestigious Presidential Scholar in the Arts award and met President George W. Bush at the White House. An even bigger opportunity arrived four years later when she appeared on the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show after winning a nationwide YouTube video competition. "I posted mine and forgot about it— and then a camera crew surprised me,” she says. “They flew me to Chicago—and I was backstage, so nervous, and I heard Oprah call ISSUE #36my name in that unmistakable voice. It was surreal." Now living in MMUSICMAG.COM New York, Weber recently completed her new album, The Refinery, featuring 11 retro-soul tracks with a modern rock edge. SEVYN rle, Sevyn Streeter E STREETER HOMETOWN: Haines City, Fla. eber; Steve W INFLUENCES: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, race G Yolanda Adams ainez, L ALBUM: Album due out 2014 WEBSITE: sevynstreeter.com Shervin SEVYN STREETER BELIEVES THE ART OF LIVE SINGING IS therapeutic for the performer and audience. “Music is emotional. Your job is to make people feel something,” she says. “The best way to do that is to sing and speak to something they’ve personally been through.” Streeter first achieved prominence in the music industry as a songwriter for Alicia Keys and Brandy—and she co- wrote several tracks on Chris Brown’s albums F.A.M.E. and Fortune. “Growing up I always wanted to be a singer, and I’ve done that,” she says. “But over the past three years, I’ve been a writer. I’ve had the honor to be in sessions with great artists.” Now signed to Atlantic Records, Streeter is putting the finishing touches on her as-yet- untitled debut album. “If it feels rock ’n’ roll, I want you to feel that,” she says. “If it feels ’90s R&B, I want you to feel that. I just want people to feel what I feel.” 17 M mag 36.indd 17 9/12/14 5:07 PM ISSUE #36 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2011 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE.