Soul music recording artist Joy Dennis kicks off the 2012 festival season with her first performance slated for Variety Entertainment Promotion’s Outdoor Funk Fest Concert in Tampa, FL. Headlining the event includes, Erykah Badu, Charlie Wilson, fantasia, Morris Day & the Time and more TBA. Joy Dennis along with her band, Pleasant Phunk opens the show. Vinoy Park (501 5th Ave., NE), Tampa, FL. Gates open at 4pm Show starts at 6pm
By Tonyaa Weathersbee
Joy Dennis sorted through a few hobbies and suffered through a bit of heartbreak before she found her voice.
Thankfully, it’s a voice everyone else now gets to hear.
“I started out in sports,” said Dennis, a local singer and producer. “I had cousins who went to Ribault [High School], and I went there to run track. … At one point, I was into tae kwan do, but I grew out of it.”
Then she found chorus.
Dennis had sung in her church choir as a youth, and in elementary school. But in chorus she learned the dynamics of singing, and the principals of how to sing.
“It was like a breath of fresh air to me,” she said.
Dennis, 31, is giving others a chance to sample what she’s created since then.
Last summer, she released her first CD, “Music Is.” It’s a spicy stew of songs seasoned with blues, funk, jazz, R&B and other forms of music that can spur listeners to dance, to amen or to simply reflect.
One song, “Electric Chair,” is Dennis’ remake of a blues song originally sung by Bessie Smith, then by Dinah Washington, about a woman contemplating using a knife to end the abuse she’s suffering from her man. Another is simply titled “Dear John,” about a heartbroken woman writing a letter to the one who broke her heart.
Travis Lockley, who owns Visionary Studios in Northwest Jacksonville where Dennis rehearses, said he can even relate to “Electric Chair.”
“I see it as being about how people can do you wrong in general, so much to the point where you don’t care about what happens to you if you go after them with a knife.”
But, Lockley said, he sees most of Dennis’ music as being “relaxing, lovable and soothing.”
Recently, Dennis held a party to herald the video release of “Electric Chair” and “He Awaits.” And while her future in music looks promising, Dennis said her main job as a child abuse investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families exposes her to experiences that help to shape her voice.
“With one of my videos, ‘Electric Chair,’ I wanted to give awareness to domestic violence,” she said. “Children get hurt, they get in the middle when they’re trying to break up their parents’ fights, and they’re emotionally and mentally abused just by seeing that.”
Dennis has had her share of emotional bruises herself. After graduating from Ribault in 1997, Dennis suppressed her passion for a more practical pursuit: A college degree. She majored in psychology at the University of North Florida.
She said she experienced some painful times in college. And like many of the single mothers she encounters on her job, she was also affected by growing up without her father in the home. “My mom gave me a lot of love, and I still had a strong male influence, my grandfather, and I visited my father,” she said. “But there’s nothing like having a dad in the home.”
But, she said, she found a way through it.
“I started writing poems in college, and I went through a tough time in college, trying to go to school, trying to have a life, and at times I felt lonely when relationships and friendships ended.”
Dennis began singing again in 2004.
“I started going out to the live venues and the poetry readings, and then I would come back home and listen to my CDs and my mom’s old records,” she said. “One night I had the opportunity to sing at an open mike venue, and I was asked to come back for an audition to sing at an album release for Jill Scott. I got a chance to sing ‘A Long Walk.’ After that came more exposure and more opportunity.”
Dennis turned what used to be a hobby into a serious pursuit.
“Joy’s a very soulful artist,” said Jeremy Gray, who plays bass for her. “Everything she sings comes from life experiences.”
Said Dennis: “I plan to continue to put out good music … that can say to people, ‘You’re not the only one going through this. … I’ve been there’ ”
To order Dennis’ music, go to www.joydennismusic.com, or call (904) 302-8146.
Tonyaa Weathersbee: (904) 359-4251
Joy Dennis – He Awaits & Electric Chair (c) 2011 Urb Garden Music Group Directed by Ryan Lightbourn [Official Non-PA Music Videos]
Written & Performed by Joy Dennis
On Saturday, April, 2, 2011
Urb Garden Music and Ms. Joy Dennis present
The Official Joy Dennis Video Premiere Party & Open Stage
At River City Brewing Company overlooking the beautiful St. Johns River
Best of all, Admission is absolutely Free. It costs you nothing. I just ask that you make sure you leave with a copy of the my Debut CD “Music Is”
Buy one for yourself, buy another for your friends and another for your family.. just make sure that everyone you know has the album!
I’ll see you on the NEW DATE, April 2nd, 2011 at 8pm!
“So I was thinking… Around this time last year I was gearing up for the release of my album Music Is, I started reflecting on all of the faces that I have seen on my path in this music game. The most obvious thing that I noticed was that most of those smiling faces were always there. They were consistent. They were there when I performed, at Black Thoughts, Funk Fests, other festivals and shows. They were there at the release. They were there when it was time to flood the streets with the cds to help meet sales quotas. They were there when I had bad shows, and tough obstacles to overcome. They were even there when I wasn’t strong enough to perform. They were there at 6:00am in the morning, in the cold, to help shoot my first music videos..
You guys make my dreams attainable. So.. I know we scheduled the video premiere party for March 26 at Poppy’s, but scratch that. I was thinking, I owe you more.
So for all of those familiar smiling faces, I dedicate this night to you.”
Joy Dennis 