A musician I am

Jerome Ransome is an independent recording artist running a small business called Simply Sing Vocal Coaching for 7 yrs. I catch up with him and talk about life.

Jerome, welcome to my series on musicians. Please tell my audience a little about you?

My Name is Jerome Ransome. I live in Downtown Toronto. I’m a singer/songwriter/recording artist/ private vocal coach/worship leader.

Talk to me about being a worship song leader?

I have been doing worship since I was 15 years old. I took part in singing on a worship team to leading worship. I had great mentors and leaders. They saw potential in a shy kid and began to draw and nurture the natural ability they saw in me.

Explain your songs, your style, creative process and your journey as an independent record artist?

I began to do studio vocal work when a mixer/ recording engineer heard me sing in church one morning and approached me about singing the songs he had made but needed lyrics and the right voice. I was around 17 at that time and had never written lyrics or a song in my life. He told me to go home and listen to the songs and write what I feel when listening to them. He said I believe you have things to say through words and melodies. So, I took a chance and did what he asked of me and that’s how I began to write songs.

When it came to style and my creative process as an artist I draw from a variety of styles of music like funk, R&B, rock, blues, and soul. I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Rait, the arrangement of the grand piano, relaxed bass, and drums just drew me in sound-wise, alongside the emotion she expressed through every word and melody till today impacts me musically. I felt her soul coming through the song. I like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Michael McDonald, to the opposite style voice of rockers like Linkin Parks, Chester, Def Leopard, Chris Martin of Coldplay…to present-day vocalist like Jon McLaughlin who is one of my favorite male vocalists. I began to appreciate good talent, no matter the style, which I believe sometimes some artists and musicians don’t look at.

How important is music to us as human beings and as a community?

Music to me as a human being is very important since my life is all-encompassing.

I’ve seen the ability, music has to reach and speak to individuals at the core. Music, when taken in and enjoyed, can be an amazing experience, if the person not only listens to the words of the song the artist penned but goes on the journey with the songwriter that can even speak to one’s heart and soul.

Community wise, music can bring the most unlikely people together, through beats, sounds, melodies and instruments.

You have merged your songwriting passion with the business world very well. Help other artists how to do that?

A lot of hard work is needed when it goes from a hobby to a career. You need to remain focused and give full attention to your craft and develop discipline. You need to surround yourself with musicians that are better than you to catapult you to a different space as a musician or singer. These are important to apply in order to develop a career and you need to take it seriously.  I have learned that this can be the difference between people in this industry taking you on and working with you.

Walk me through your life, the challenges, the highs, the lows and what have you learned from it in the music business?

Doing music for a living is hard. Anyone who has developed a successful career or is on a journey to becoming ‘successful’ knows the ‘ups and downs’ of the industry. The constant rejections and the financial challenges you will face are facts about this type of career. However, you have to be consistent, persistent and keep that passion and focus every day continuously pressing forward when it is rough’ and it will determine your outcome.

How important is faith, finance, food, and family to you?

It is important to have a strong family to rely on when you are discouraged. You need personal support to reach the goal of becoming a singer/ musician/ recording artist. Developing also a schedule with rest and what you eat with what you take in food and nutrition-wise, I found it affects your performance as a singer or musician. Over the past year, I have changed my diet to include more greens, fruits and vegetables and the amount I would eat. I began working out and saw a big change in my body along with how I feel and the energy I need which is important to perform as an artist.

What are your future plans and goals? If someone wants to buy your songs, please give me the website.

My future goals are to do a little more traveling, singing, and songwriting. I like collaborating with other songwriters for inspiration as it has worked for me.

I also wish to one day make a music video for one song which I always envisioned since I was a teenager.

I am presently doing backup vocals for Travis Eugene in the studio and will be touring with him. This is an exciting new journey for me musically and personally that I wish to achieve as a singer/songwriter. The sky is the limit in 2019. Thank you, for hearing me out. Look for future music to come from an independent recording artist.

Photo Credits: freestocks  Zia Syed Michael Maasen Simon Noh Juja Han Nainoa Shizuru