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Seventeen-year-old Gabrielle Ross, winner of Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in 2006, performed for the crowd at 30th Street beach for the Avalon Performing Arts Council Concert July 3.
The Long Island native was accompanied by her reputable band, who have traveled with the likes of Jill Scott, Missy Elliot, Kid Rock, Rod Stewart, and Michael Bolton.
Also in tow, was former President of Epic, CBS, and Infinity Record Labels, Ron Alexenburg, once responsible for signing Michael Jackson and Meatloaf, who serves as a consultant to Ross.
Ross, who is not signed to a record label, was a high school junior when she auditioned for the Apollo Amateur Night contest.
“One of the people I work with, Chris Curry, who I’ve been working with for a few years now, had me audition. I sang a couple of lines and they said ‘you’re in,’” Ross said.
Ross sang “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from the Broadway musical “Dreamgirls,” advancing through four levels before winning the final.
Alexenburg read about her in the newspaper the day after the competition and contacted the singer-songwriter.
“I’ve always been engrossed by young singers. It’s been my career finding young artists and that she wrote songs, I wanted to hear her sing,” Alexenburg told me.
That summer, Ross worked with producer Ted Pearlman who has worked with Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, and had the opportunity to write with him.
That led to working with other producers such as Gary Miller, who’s worked with Cher, Lionel Richie, Donna Summer, and John Porter, who wrote the Grammy- winning song “Red, Red, Wine.”
Ross started singing in the back of the car at age two.
“My Mom listened to me all the time and realized I could sing, but everyone thought she was just being a regular proud mom,” Ross told me.
When she was six, she asked her parents for singing lessons and by age 14, she was writing her own songs.
In high school, Ross split her time between Nassau BOCES Cultural Arts Center in Syosset, N.Y. and Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, N.Y., taking music theory and vocal music in the morning at the former.
Ross graduated from high school this spring and was accepted to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but decided to defer for one year in order to travel, write, and record this fall, though college is definitely not out of the question.
Ross has tentative plans to take songwriting classes at the New School in Greenwich Village in January.
“I want to get the college experience. I think it’s important, and in Manhattan, you can’t really be in any greater place than that,” Ross said.
Ross was originally slated to play two 45-minute sets for the Avalon crowd.
Instead, the powerhouse voice played a set of original songs twice in a row, for two and half hours straight.
“The only other band who did that to me was a band I signed called Boston,” Alexenburg told me.
Ross categorized her music as nice pop-ballads, pop rock.
“I like to keep everything classy and lady-like,” she said.
Some of her biggest influences have been Celine Dion and Mariah Carey.
“I’m not like the Britney Spears type or anything like that. Sort of like a combination of Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Kelly Clarkson, a little bit?” she laughed.
Alexenburg had a slightly different opinion of Ross’s sound.
“I don’t categorize music. People ask me who does she sound like? She sounds like herself, what does her music sound like? It sounds like herself,” he said.
Ross has held off from seeking a recording contract in order to cultivate her music.
“I wanted to complete all my music and let my music evolve,” she said.
She describes herself as very close to her parents, who were also at the show. She has one sibling, a 14-year-old brother Derek.
“He’s at sleep-away camp now and I miss him,” Ross said.
Alexenburg also noted Ross’s strong familial ties.
“She comes from a very solid family. And that’s where she gets her emotion,” he told me.
When asked where she’d like to see herself this time next year Ross replied, “I hope to have a record deal by then, but I’m going to keep working and performing and recording and writing. Hopefully, it will pay off. It comes with time. I’m not rushing anything.”
