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From the moment you meet Jade Brown it's obvious
that this is no ordinary teenager.
As the lead singer and songwriter for Wayland Community
High School’s band Illusive, she stands out from the crowd and is
attracting attention from high places.
MP Gillian Shephard was so impressed with her performance
that she arranged a meeting in the House of Commons with Jonathan
Shalit – the man who discovered Charlotte Church.
With talk of a recommendation to the Brit School
of Performing Arts and a meeting with Sir Tim Rice on the way –
things are moving fast.
But Jade is still managing to keep her feet on
the ground. Follow her thoughts and experiences in her diary.
Jade's diary
First entry
I’m Jade Brown and I’m one of the singers and songwriters for the
school band Illusive. I started singing and songwriting after my
dad passed away, in 1997. While other people tend to write poems
and letters to let out their grief, I wrote songs, lyrics and tunes.
As a little girl, I didn’t intend to go into music
- I wanted to be a vet. It wasn’t until I started singing and songwriting
that I decided that I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. I’ve
lived in Watton since the start of year seven, when my mum got with
my step-dad.
At first I wasn’t into going out because I was
young. But every other weekend there was a disco at the Queens Hall
and people went and had fun. Then halfway through year eight it
got cancelled, which was a shame because it left us with nothing
to do.
Now that’s what we crave for. If you want to do
something in the evening, you’ve got the choice of staying in, going
down town with your mates, or catching a bus to Norwich – but that’s
not easy to do. Still, Watton is a nice area – I’ll give it that.
The school is brilliant, but actually being in Watton -I don’t think
it's very lively.
At the moment I’m looking forward to my meeting
with Jonathan Shalit next week, but I’ve been told that I’ve been
letting my feet wander off the ground, meaning that I’ve become
a bit big-headed.
I don’t mean to, I expect is just all the encouragement
I’ve had. You need someone to take you down again and I’ve got friends
who can do that. I’m going to sleep on it because it's made me think
that maybe I’ve been getting on everyone’s nerves, so tomorrow I’ve
got to sort myself out.
Entry two
Just got home from school from my rehearsal, which went well. Had
a few arguments. There’s a song called With Or Without You, which
I wrote about my dad and it's personal to me but I wanted the other
singer to sing it and everyone thought I was getting into a stress.
The day has been okay, I had a free lesson. I
get it because I dropped a GCSE so I can work on my musical. My
teacher Mr Dalton has written me a little letter with things to
remember during my meeting with Jonathan Shalit.
All these people keep telling me advice and I just
don’t know what’s going to happen – I don’t think anyone really
does. I’m just really excited.
This evening I’ve got nothing to do because I’m
only allowed out once during the week and I’ve already been out
this week. Next time I go out will be tomorrow night when I go out
with my friends, which will be cool.
Mum doesn’t understand why I always want to hang
out in town, frankly it's because that’s the only thing you can
do around here. Still thinking about my meeting with Jonathan Shalit,
I’m not going in there expecting a recording contract, I’m just
looking for contacts. A recording contract would be nice but I’m
not going to sign anything until I get a lawyer!
Entry three - morning
Tonight I’m going out down town with my
mates. Tomorrow I’m going out to try and get a Sunday job. I don’t
know if anyone will take me on because no-one really takes on 15-year-olds,
which is a shame because we do actually want to earn some money.
I don’t know what we’ll do tonight. Usually we
just hang around town talking and stuff. Sometimes the police come
by and they’re all interested in what your doing.
It’s quite scary because you’re not there to get
in trouble, you’re just hanging out with your mates. My mum doesn’t
understand why I always want to go down there. It's because it’s
the only time I get to see my mates outside of school.
Entry four - evening
Just got home from town because there’s not much going on. It’s
funny because you want to go out with your mates and then you get
there and it's really not that great.
I’m going to have a good night’s sleep and tomorrow
I’m going job searching – which will be fun. Because I’ve tried
that before and its very boring.
Entry five
The job search didn’t go well. Rang up a couple of places and they
said they didn’t take anyone under 16, which really annoyed me because
I really want a job!
Okay, I’ve been babysitting and I’ve got a tenner
in my pocket but that doesn’t go far. Been thinking about Tuesday
and here comes Jonathan Shalit! I can’t wait.
Entry six
Been to Snetterton market with my family. Then went on a 13-mile
bike ride. Which was fun. Thought about Tuesday’s meeting a lot
and decided: take it as it comes, don’t expect anything.
Entry seven - afternoon
Am in London with my brother and outside the national art gallery
waiting to meet my great aunt Shirley. Just went and had a look
at the House of Commons - I’m really excited!
Entry eight - evening
Home after a long, long day! The meeting was excellent. Met up with
Gillian Shephard and had tea and biscuits.
Met Jonathan Shalit in the House of Commons entrance.
He seemed like a nice guy. He started by saying that nowadays the
music it isn’t just about talent, it's image as well. He didn’t
say I didn’t have the image, just that it was something to think
about.
He said we should stick to one type of music but
Mr Bloomfield didn’t agree. Gillian Shephard was excellent – really
helped us out.
He said I should go to the Brit School in South
West London and he said he’d happily do a recommendation for me
because it’s hard to get in.
He is also going to give Mr Bloomfield some contacts.
But, to be completely honest, I don’t think Mr Shalit was very interested
in our music. It didn’t sound like he wanted to do anything with
it.
Maybe it's because we don’t do his kind of music?
I just couldn’t feel the interest. When we asked him if he thought
our music was good, he wouldn’t give us a straight answer. But it
was still good, it was a great opportunity and I got some contacts.
Our next one is in two weeks with Sir Tim Rice
and I’m going to look forward to that. I’m just going to look forward
to it, that’s all you can do. Keep your expectations level and you’ll
be okay.
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Jade's next entry »
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Met Jonathan Shalit in the House of Commons entrance.
He seemed like a nice guy. He started by saying that nowadays
the music it isn’t just about talent, it's image as well.
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