Opener- Natalie Forteza Featuring Akie Bermiss at The Falcon

Unknown no more, people in the Hudson Valley are talking about Natalie, hearing her stunning voice at one of the many local venues.

Singing since childhood, Natalie was surrounded by music from her very beginnings. She recalls her parents often playing the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto on the home stereo. Her maternal grandparents, who she calls, “the Latin Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,” later exposed her to Jazz standards like those of Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. She says, “They will forever be a part of me.”

But the contemporary beckons her. Influenced by the music of artists like Sade, Sting, Bebel Gilberto, Emily King, Adele & Jamiroquai, this multi-genre chanteuse’s musical & songwriting pursuits embrace Pop, R&B, Soul and Latin genres. Though her influences are many, her singular vocal talent is hard to miss. She can purr at the microphone, but there’s an underlying vocal power there. Praised by the Poughkeepsie Journal as,”an act you don’t want to miss,” Natalie has opened for artists such as KJ Denhert, Mose Allison, Frank Vignola [Madonna, Ringo Starr, Wynton Marsalis] & Stephane Wrembel [Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona & Midnight in Paris]. With every performance Natalie evolves into a more muscular and nuanced singer. A young artist just beginning to test the limits of her instrument. ...

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Unknown no more, people in the Hudson Valley are talking about Natalie, hearing her stunning voice at one of the many local venues.

Singing since childhood, Natalie was surrounded by music from her very beginnings. She recalls her parents often playing the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto on the home stereo. Her maternal grandparents, who she calls, “the Latin Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,” later exposed her to Jazz standards like those of Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. She says, “They will forever be a part of me.”

But the contemporary beckons her. Influenced by the music of artists like Sade, Sting, Bebel Gilberto, Emily King, Adele & Jamiroquai, this multi-genre chanteuse’s musical & songwriting pursuits embrace Pop, R&B, Soul and Latin genres. Though her influences are many, her singular vocal talent is hard to miss. She can purr at the microphone, but there’s an underlying vocal power there. Praised by the Poughkeepsie Journal as,”an act you don’t want to miss,” Natalie has opened for artists such as KJ Denhert, Mose Allison, Frank Vignola [Madonna, Ringo Starr, Wynton Marsalis] & Stephane Wrembel [Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona & Midnight in Paris]. With every performance Natalie evolves into a more muscular and nuanced singer. A young artist just beginning to test the limits of her instrument.
http://www.natalieforteza.com/

Gifted pianist, composer, & singer, Akie Bermiss began writing music criticism in his years at Bard College, finishing with a degree in music composition. He also studied American Music (read: tin pan alley, broadway musicals, and jazz).
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Akie-Bermiss/26051026121

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