koralee got on stage for the first time at the age of 12. Thanks to her paternal grandmother’s tenacity (she called every theatre and production company in Winnipeg to brag about her granddaughter’s talents) she continued to do theatre and started performing for film (auditioning as a kid for Guy Madden in his tiny living room) and television (producing a public access spot for the Rhinoceros Party in high school). She left home in her teens and, with a penchant for travel, has lived everywhere from Vancouver to Calgary to London, England to Chicago to Los Angeles and New York.
Modeling? Check that, including appearing in a fiery Lee Jeans ad with Booger (Curtis Armstrong) from Revenge of the Nerds. She’s done her share of Indie film projects and her face has been seen by millions as the star of what is often considered the world’s first viral video. Yogini? That too, as a series regular on www.namaste.tv, currently airing pretty much every day in 17 countries. You’ve heard her voice if you listened to the radio or watched television (Finer moments? Getting a job she completed ten minutes later because she could say ‘about’ the American way, and sharing a booth with WKRP’s Les Nesman) or if you ever felt lonely and called The Chatline (that was koralee’s voice warning of your impending disconnect from your new true love unless you entered your credit card number). Then one day, she sold everything she couldn’t fit in two red suitcases, gave up performance altogether and worked for a personal development guru for three years. Strangely enough, opportunities constantly came up for her to sing.
koralee didn’t really talk about her career until one day at a course a woman approached her and said, ‘was that you in….’? Suddenly, everyone she met was drawn to her and her voice and put her on stage; she was invited to sing with David Pack of Ambrosia in front of 2000 people at an event in Snowmass, CO (at the same event, Art Linkletter proposed). And then, at yet another workshop, she met and sang for Eliot Sloan of Blessid Union of Souls.
On a dare, koralee gave him her iPod, and played him an a cappella version of ‘Sister’. He listened for a thirty seconds and said: ‘Get me a piano.’ After a fevered search all over the Asilomar conference grounds in Monterey, CA, they finally convinced a security guard to let them into a locked hall, where they sat down at a dusty piano and finished the music for the song in twenty minutes. koralee performed it later that night to an audience of 75, and then two weeks later, recorded it in Eliot’s Kentucky studio and sent it out to less than a hundred people. The response was crystal clear when requests came from all over for a copy of the song: she was a singer and songwriter with an audience waiting.
koralee’s sound has been compared to Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos and Alanis Morrisette. She has been called the Joan Armatrading of the 21st century. “From her eclectic life experiences come songs of innocence, betrayal and independence sung by a distinct, unpretentious voice” (Rasheed Ali, One Tribe, Many Voices). koralee’s self-titled EP was released October 1, 2010 and is available on iTunes, CD Baby, and http://www.koraleemusic.com/. Look for her full-length release mid-2011.