User:Jessicaallyn

Though she is new to the New York City music scene, Jessica Allyn is no stranger to the stage. She played violin in her youth, was accepted to the Suzuki Program, and branched out to guitar, ukulele and a multitude of other instruments all before her mid-twenties. Listen to one song and you will hear her classical vocal training shining through. Listen a moment longer and you will understand why she was invited to audition for RENT on Broadway. This affinity for music is part of a long family heritage. Jessica’s grandfather and great-grandfather were temple cantors. Her grandmother survived the Holocaust and moved to Sweden where she sang and played guitar.

A rough childhood drove Jessica deeper into the musical world. It became her balm and acts as such to this very day. Once out of high school, Jessica briefly attended Five Towns College to study musical theatre. When she was 21, she joined a nonprofit theatre group supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It was there, during a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show that Jessica met Rob Franceschini, a guitar player in the house band. They formed a fast friendship, sharing very similar ideas about music.

In 2008, Jessica and Rob got together to begin the writing and production of I Am A Camera, Jessica’s debut EP. Starting off with “Jenny Jones,” a song that will bring you back to daytime television ten years ago, and ending with the soaring, dramatic strings and intense guitar solo of “Standing O,” I Am A Camera is a collection of selections from a rock opera in the works. Crowd favorite “Iscariot,” alluding to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, was the first song Jessica and Rob recorded and was also the single from the album which was quickly picked up by college radio.

Shortly after the release of I Am A Camera, Jessica and Rob started looking for a drummer to complete their live ensemble. Jason Foulke had approached Jessica in the past and stepped forward again, this time via Twitter. The three spent two hours in a Manhattan recording studio jamming and the present line up was solidified. Jessica, Rob and Jay spent a few months arranging the Camera songs for live performance, mastering cover songs ranging from Lady Gaga to Rocky Horror to Salt ‘n’ Pepa, and writing new material. At last, in June 2009, the three debuted at Otto’s Shrunken Head in Manhattan. Shows at Pianos, a gay and lesbian youth center in Long Island, Shea Stadium and the Cloud Club followed swiftly thereafter.

Just four months after her first show at Otto’s, Jessica, Rob and Jay were playing to a packed room at an official CMJ showcase. To date, Jessica has played with artists such as Army of Toys, Emilyn Brodsky, Family of the Year, Jaggery, Yula and the Extended Family and more.

Jessica recently finished recording her second release, aptly titled Delusions of Grandeur. It focuses on the seven deadly sins and was released in April 2010. Jay is also working on a documentary chronicling the creation of Delusions to be released in tandem with the album.

Though the band broke up in the summer of 2010, Jessica continues to write and perform. She recently began writing and recording demos from a new project, with no current release date.