Kellylee Evans: unique voice of urban-jazz world comes to Laval

In addition to some new songs, the heart of the concert she'll be bringing to Laval can be found on her first album, Fight or Flight? released in May of 2006.

Four months after the album hit the music stores and airwaves, the singer opened for the legendary Tony Bennett in Montreal.

"Whenever I think of these performances in Montreal, I still get the shivers. The crowd's reaction was incredible. On stage, I truly want to communicate a range of many different emotions, from the romantic to the purely energetic, intending to leave the people with a positive impression," confided the singer-songwriter, her voice full of soothing sunshine.

But it's been a rocky road to her present unique and successful status. In the 1990s, after deciding to completely dedicate herself to a musical career … she lost her voice.

"I had just given birth to my first child. While my little girl was learning to speak, I had to maintain silence for nearly a year. I consulted a doctor who dealt with a similar problem related to Céline Dion. We mapped out a treatment plan and my vocal cords came back stronger than ever," recounts the singer, who says she regrets none of the choices she's made in life. All the better for us.

Among many acknowledgements over the years, she counts a 2004 second place award in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Compoetition, held at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. where a panel of judges that included Quincy Jones and Al Jarreau selected her from among a pool of 160 gifted vocalists from around the world. In the summer of 2007, besides the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the singer with the smooth style that easily lends itself to jazz, soul, R & B, and blues also made stops in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.