Michelle Poh
Jazz Vocalist | Pianist
“Michelle is one of those rare individuals whose sound reflects her personality. She breathes life into her melodies with the same radiance and joy she lives. Her deep understanding of the blues, soul music and jazz gives her an unlimited amount of diversity and creativity.” - Marcus Printup, New York, USA, Recording Artist and Educator.
Referred by her audience to some singers, pianists and songwriters - Eva Cassidy, Diana Krall, or Elton John, Alanis Morisette, Ella Filzgerald, Sting, Michelle is a unique blend of them, and more... Michelle crosses genres, fuses music and individual elements of players, with soul jazz blues as a common thread. Her effortless improvisational skills and showmanship made her a popular artiste.
With a first rate band, and charisma that has charmed people around the world, Michelle turns events into shows. Hailing from a generation with few native music mentors, Michelle found her place with pioneering spirits across the globe bearing a similar international outlook, where she found herself performing with the backing of the Holland’s top sessionists for artistes such as Anouk and Marco Bosato, and recording with Spanish musicians which included Spain’s pioneer for rock-Andulaz flamenco and homegrown talent based in Spain Nantha Kumar.
She also performed "Misty" with Grammy nominated pianist Kenny Werner (Author of Effortless Mastery) at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and was chosen by Michelle Weir (Author of Vocal Improvisation) & Grammy nominated Phil Mattson to demonstrate scat singing at the 2004 International Vocal Festival, Tilburg; which she did alongside Tomaž Kozlevčar, Slovenian conductor & arranger for the world renowned show ensemble Perpetum Jazzile.
Michelle's original music was recognised through recording offers directly from the headquarters of several major recording labels in New York, Los Angeles and Europe, with best offers going into 7-digit budgets. As music producer, composer, arranger, vocalist, musician, her pre-release original song for Dec 2010 “Free to Fall” showcases her one-woman-band talent. While another of her unreleased songs “Dreams”, was used for Singapore’s participation in Unesco’s - Dreams at 50 project celebrating Martin Luther King’s 50th Anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” Speech. The project united bands and dancers from around the world through a video which also featured artiste as Usher.While her latest single release “Serenity”, co-produced with Grammy associated producer Stephen Laurence Harvey (Al Jarreau, Brenda Russell), was covered in major medias and key radio stations, and received significant Italian reception.
Locally, Michelle had a memorable time performing with Marcus Printup from Lincoln Jazz Orchestra, and sessionists for Harry Connick Junior, where music making took different heights. She held a memorable residency at Barstop on Fridays from 2007- 2009, holding top nights there with her 4 piece band, where she introduced cover reinterpretations of pop and rock into a jazz bar(to initial protests!), which is now commonplace locally. She then embarked on a season of duelling pianos with Stephen Francis, a unique and fun project on Steinways including 30,000 balloons raining on year end's megashow. After which, Michelle performed to her own sell-out show at Singapore’s premier jazz club – the Sultan Jazz Club, and was invited back as guest artiste with Johnny James & his all American band on New Years Eve that same year. Michelle has been featured weekly as solo singer-pianist at Jazz at the Shoppes, as well as Fuse Bar the Marina Bay Sands, a destination developed by Las Vegas Sands ranked Singapore’s most checked-in venue in 2013