Jillian Speer
Biographie Jillian Speer
Jillian Speer
Originally born and raised north of Seattle, Jillian Speer grew up with music as an integral part of her life from an early age. Ballet, tap, jazz, and modern dance classes that started at three years old and dance competitions that began at age 10-16 years old instilled the work ethic for perfection. At nine years old she began vocal lessons and at ten years old Jillian began training in classical guitar. Writing songs, guitar recitals, dance class, dance competitions, intensive summer arts camps, and performing in local musicals and theater best describes her school years. At age 14 Speer recorded her first demo, all original songs, and that is when she got “the bug” for music and the art of recording. “By the time I was 16 I felt like I had optimized everything my small town could offer me and I wanted so badly to go out and see the world. I applied to be an exchange student and out of 24 kids, I got chosen!” Jillian got a scholarship to spend one year in India. That year was an experience that would deeply affect her life as well as influence her music.
After India, Jillian returned home to the Pacific Northwest and recorded her first album at the age of 18. The album entitled, “Silent Teaching” got a lot of interest among various record labels because it got in the hands of a well known entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles who was actively passing it around. Shortly after, the Singer-Songwriter moved to Los Angeles because there was a million dollar deal on the table with a Sony-subsidiary record label. They wanted to sign her fast and use her as their first artist to launch their label. Jillian ended up walking away from the deal because they wanted part of her Publishing. Los Angeles embraced her, she felt at home instantly, so she stayed and formed The Jillian Speer Band. She continued recording and performing to sold out shows all over L.A. for many years. Within a 4-year span, Jillian had four separate million dollar deals on the table offering to sign her. She walked away from two of them, and two of them dropped her. Her Art always came first, not the money. Selling out was not an option but selling her CD’s at her shows continued to bring a following and led to her opening for acts like Jewel and Michael Franti & Spearhead.
After 7 years of many up’s and many down’s in the turbulent music business, Jillian moved to Maui to rest and reset from the roller-coaster ride she had been on… “The business can be very unforgiving, heartless, and most of the time Talent has nothing to do with making it. I was met with that harsh cruel reality many-a times and I needed more of mother nature at that point and less of music venues. I needed to get back to my roots and Hawaii stole my heart.” Speer recorded another album in her time there but never released it, she also did some shows, but mostly, she swam in the wild with dolphins. Jillian had the honor of meeting dolphin cinematographers in Maui and ended up following them out to sea much of her time there. “Swimming with dolphins was life-changing for me, its like being in the presence of a high holy being.”
With her classical training in guitar, she lays a meditative foundation to her songs of love, loss, heartache and hope. In 2015 she formed her record label, Speerit Records, and in 2016 Jillian released “Deeper This Way”. Produced by Grammy-award winning producer/mixer Qmillion and featuring drums by the legendary Chris Dave, the songs set bore the influences of city life on the small town girl, incorporating a fusion sound of Folk meets Soul, Hip-Hop, and Rock. The album is rich in genre-defying musicianship. “Deeper This Way” hit the Top 20 iTunes Singer-Songwriter chart, finding favor at many college radio stations. Her next release, the 2018 EP “Wet With Fire”, finds her collaborating with Qmillion again and might be her most alternative release yet. The whole EP is brilliantly delivered with richly woven textures of songs that go far deeper than the next artist.
Currently, Jillian is due to release her next work of art in March 2024, a full album entitled, “Beautifully Complex”. The singer-songwriter says, “This is my favorite album I’ve made thus far. Its mostly acoustic, melancholy, honest, raw, deep, and vulnerable.”
The grounding force and shining star of all her music is Jillian’s rich lamenting voice and lyrics that are contemplative at times, political at other times, but at all times an honest reflection of an artist committed to true self expression and music that has meaning. This is one musician that is extremely determined and passionate about the songwriting craft and she consistently gives compelling thought-provoking lyrical content. Speer writes unique original tunes that harken back to a classic era and the superb musicians that play on all her albums are some of today’s greatest talents. Jillian’s songs reflect her admiration for the great Joni Mitchell yet her sound owes as much to Peter Gabriel and Dave Matthews as it owes to Tracy Chapman. I’ve never heard an artist so skillfully combine so many genera’s into one unique sound. Speer is a real breath of fresh air and a shock to the everyday musical system presently in place.
