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Grace Kelly was born Grace Chung on May 15, 1992 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Grace is of Korean descent. In 1997 her mother remarried Robert Kelly. He legally adopted grace a couple of years later that is how she got the name Grace Kelly. Grace was fortunate to grow up in a family that appreciated music and the arts. Grace’s parents would play Stan Getz while having brunch. Grace fell in love with the saxophone and wanted to play, but was too young. At the age of six Grace started taking classical piano, but she preferred jazz because she could make up her own melodies. When Grace was seven she wrote a song titled “On My Way Home”. While in the 4th grade Grace tried the clarinet, but switch to the saxophone in the 5th grade. The saxophone was the instrument she always wanted to play. Grace left High School at 16, got her G.E.D and went to Berklee College of Music where she got her degree in Professional Music in December 2011. Grace was the youngest musician ever to be voted by Down Beat Magazine’s Critics Poll in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as Alto Saxophone Rising Stars. Grace Kelly’s talents don’t stop at jazz saxophonist. Her other talents are vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and bandleader. This young lady does it all. Grace Kelly is truly an jazz saxophone prodigy she has been around the world and played with the likes of some of the greats Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Phil Collins, Harry Connick Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater, Geri Allen, Ann Hampton Callaway, Cedar Walton Hank Jones, Keith Lockhart, Frank Morgan, Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, Terri Lynne Carrington Chris Potter and the list goes on. Her debut CD “Dreaming” was released in 2004. She was only 12 years old. Seven CD’s later Grace Kelly released the self-titled CD “Grace” in 2011.She is 19 years old and still blowing the saxophone like she has been doing it for 30 years or more. I like Grace Kelly she is a talented musician that we’re going to hear from for a long time to come. You can listen to Grace Kelly on Streetwise Radio Jazz Café 12-1pm or on live365, Athena365, MyGen365 and iTunes.
LM
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