Jessica Star

Jessica Star is a dynamic and engaging vocalist, songwriter and rhythm guitarist. Her live shows are a fiery mix of her original songs and her favorite covers. She likes to reinterpret songs by Heart, Led Zeppelin, and Janis Joplin to name a few. 

 Originally from Oakland, California, she has considered New York her home for the past twenty-one years.

Jessica has recorded with members of Jefferson Starship, Huey Lewis and The News and the producer of The Grateful Dead,  as well as  

mandolin/fiddle player, Andy Leftwich- Four-time GRAMMY award winner, plays/tours/records with Ricky Skaggs, 

drummer, Vinnie Santoro- Johnny Cash, Shania Twain 

bassist - David Francis- Pam Tillis, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Roy Parnell

electric Guitar, Pedal Steel, Banjo - Russ Pahl -Rascal Flatts, Vince Gill, Jeff Bridges, Willy Nelson

piano/Hammond B3 - Catherine Styron Marx- Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson

Jessica Star has played B.B. King's, the Knitting Factory, and the legendary Bitter End in NYC, and The Maritime Hall, The Harmony Festival and Luther Burbank Center in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

Jessica’s albums to date (of her original material) include: 

"RISING; From the Vault" released 2015, twenty years after it was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in 1995.  Jessica worked with producer and engineer, Bob Matthews (The Grateful Dead), and the late arranger, John Kahn (bassist of The Jerry Garcia Band). The musicians on this session include Mario Cippolina on bass (Huey Lewis and The News), Donny Baldwin on drums (Jefferson Starship), Pete Sears on the keyboard (Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Moon Alice), Ho Young on guitar (The John Kahn Band), and an orchestra of strings and horns. 

Released in 2014 and recorded in Berkeley, CA, "Mystical Creature" - 13 of Jessica's original songs , featuring a full rock band with the addition of concert harp, cello, fiddle, flute and harmony singers. It was produced by Winter and co-produced by Jessica, making  this her favorite album so far.  

"Dragon's Lair" released in 1999 and recorded in top studios around the San Francisco Bay Area including Prairie Sun in Cotati and Laughing Tiger in San Rafael. This album has 12 tracks and covers a wide gamut of styles in her songwriting including Blues, Folk, and Mystical Rock.  

Before turning to music, Jessica spent nine years studying ballet, modern, and jazz dance including four years as a full-scholarship  student at The Oregon Ballet Theater in Portland, Oregon.   

When asked why she has such a driving passion for her music and the development of her vision, she describes how she lost her family at a young age and that her music and songwriting have been the one thing that makes her feel like she has a home and a reason for being. Her songs are like her family and the musical world she has created around herself makes it easier and alot more fun to live in this world.