 Q : "Missy, why do you sing?" A : "Because it feels good!"The Bio Whether it’s covering a blues standard, a haunting Irish ballad or delivering one of her own original heart-felt tunes, Missy Burgess brings an extraordinary passion and vocal ability to every song she sings. And when she writes, “I think I write about things that are common to us all – love, anger, sadness.” Gifted with multi-layered vocal texture and a powerful range, Missy’s voice has been compared to both Janis Joplin and Edith Piaf. Bluesy and rugged one moment, she can be breaking your shell with vulnerability the next. “I don’t know how I got this voice, I really don’t.” True, she grew up around music as the younger sister of noted Canadian tenor Michael Burgess, famed for his performances in Les Miserables. Growing up in Toronto, Missy says she was recognized in school music programs as “someone who stood out” but didn’t pursue her own music then. “I felt like I was always around music through Michael but I was shy about singing in those days. Music was like a secret habit for me,” she grins. “I always thought writing would be a career for me.” Well, instead of becoming a writer then, she became a nurse.  Soon she was married and had a son. “Music went on the back burner for several years. Even today, it seems like everyday is about making Plan B work!” she laughs. With her degree in Nursing, she moved to Ottawa and soon got a job at Algonquin College. She now heads the Trauma and Addiction Program, designing educational material for students who will become trauma and addiction counselors themselves. “I love my job but it’s very stressful. It can be sad too often, too.” As time went on, music would not be denied. In 1998, she first went to the Stone Angel, a now-defunct Ottawa coffee house which held evenings for women singers. “I was encouraged to go sing there one night. And I was horrible! But I kept on and found a place to learn the craft.” When the Stone Angel sessions moved over to Rasputin’s Folk Café Missy became a regular at the Songwriter’s Circle and Open Stage nights. She started taking guitar lessons through Domenic’s Academy of Music a tremendous amount of support and encouragement, as well as studio time for recording. Click the link below to find out about Missy’s upcoming Events and CD News . But…what is it about singing?  Missy says: “When you’re singing, you’re doing something for somebody that they maybe can’t do for themselves. For me it’s a way of saying things I can’t always verbalize. It’s a release, an expression, it’s communal and can bring people together.” She had living proof of this in the summer of 2001 when she journeyed to the Louisiana State Prison for Women to sing her song about the prisoner Mary Riley to a roomful of inmates, including…Mary Riley. For the full story of Missy and Mary Riley click the link below. That year she also found what may be her “true love” – her anniversary edition Fender (link) Telecaster, the one with the golden tuning pegs. She's named the guitar... L’il Rum Boogie  She took it to Louisiana and to many Open Stages. She’s begun performing at spots like Rasputin’s (link) in Ottawa, the Perth Fair, at events through Domenic’s including the Ottawa Ex and at many benefits for causes she believes in. Among those are the United Way, Harmony House, Ottawa’s Union Mission for Men and “anything for addiction.” She organized and hosted a benefit concert for Interval House in December 2001. “I guess I see myself as somebody who’s in the trenches, somebody who wants to stay rooted. I’m definitely on the side of the underdog.” With her son Matt now studying at the University of Waterloo, Missy lives with Kafka the family’s Siberian Husky in Kanata. (Yep, that’s his picture on the CD.) Her house is filled with music, music books, music stands, tape recorders, guitars, practice amps and musical friends. In 2002, Missy plans to take a year’s sabbatical from the College to pursue studies in music therapy. It’s what she’s already been doing, really, for her audiences. Back to that original question …“Missy, why do you sing?” “Music can be a vehicle to make us all stand a little higher. I truly believe music can mend or move the hardest heart.” Well, it can…when Missy Burgess sings. --------------------------------------------------- interview and story by Susan Beyer, November 2001 |
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(c) 2001 Missy Burgess
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