About Valerie
Musician・Mother・Educator
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Hello!
It is so nice to meet you. I’m Valerie Day, a musician, mother, educator, neuroscience and psychology geek, and creative explorer.
I'm on a mission to help singers create a sustainable life in music.
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My Story
For more than thirty years, music has been both my art and my classroom. It's taken me from smoky little clubs to packed arenas, and from performing in obscurity to making hit records and a Grammy nomination. But the path was never a straight line. I've failed, regrouped, and begun again more times than I can count, and somewhere along the way I became a voice teacher, too.
That's the short version.
The longer one is worth telling, so let me start at the beginning…
Music was our life.
1960 | Fertile Ground
My mom was a beautiful, talented, tiara-wearing, lyric soprano. She sang with Portland Opera and Seattle Opera, and filled my life with musicals and Gilbert & Sullivan performances. My dad was a physician who had a rich lyric baritone.
Growing up in a house filled with music, plus an arts-rich education, created fertile ground for explorations in all the arts. I danced, wrote poetry, studied calligraphy and bookmaking, acted in small theater productions, played piano, and — of course — sang.
Valerie and John, 1975.
1975 | Getting Cosmic
I left home for the first time at age 16 and moved into a hippie commune in NW Portland called the First Cosmic Bank of Divine Economy. The currency was karma — what you put in, you got out, PLUS interest. It was at the Cosmic Bank that I met John, who would become my partner in life and in music.
I worked in restaurants. Cleaned movie theaters. Cleaned houses. Accompanied dance classes. I finished high school, barely, thanks to an alternative program that allowed me to study music and dance at Mt. Hood Community College and the local arts high school, Jefferson High.
Valerie w/Brian Davis, Caton Lyles,
& Master Drummer Obo Addy.
1982 | World Music
After the commune dissolved, John and I became jazz hippies and plunged into the world music scene.
I fell in love with Latin percussion, and after a two-year hiatus, I went back to school to study jazz at Portland State University and then in Seattle at the Cornish Institute of Allied Arts.
I played in Latin Bands and Kukrudu, Ghanaian master drummer Obo Addy’s band.
Nu Shooz plays Neighborfair,
Portland, OR, 1985.
1985 | Nu Shooz
I also played in a 12-piece horn band that John started called Nu Shooz. I sang backup and played percussion, but every once in a while, I stepped out front to give our lead singer a break. When he left the band, I went from back up singer to lead singer — in one week.
We continued playing in clubs around the Pacific NW for seven years. Then, through a series of incredible pieces of luck, we were signed to a record deal with Atlantic that lasted another seven years. Our first album went gold, and we were nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 1987.
Our family photo taken by Tasha Miller.
1992 | Another Life
After the ride ended in 1992, John and I had our son, Malcolm. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us! For more than two decades, I stuck close to home, teaching voice and singing jazz while we raised him.
It was a wonderful life. Every once in a while, we were asked if we would do a Nu Shooz show. We always said no.
But as they say — never say never. When Malcolm graduated from high school in 2013, we finally said yes. Turns out the 80s are more fun the second time around! The next seven years were filled with playing for audiences around the globe and recording with our band.
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What I’ve learned:
Making music my career has been an amazing ride, with some successes and many more failures. And I wouldn’t change a thing. The learning and growing never stops, and that’s what makes me feel fulfilled and alive.
Life IS more about the journey than it’s about the destination.
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Trust your path.
Sometimes, the things that happen to us that seem the absolute worst, turn out to be the best.
When I first became the lead singer in Nu Shooz, I developed nodules (calluses on the vocal cords) and was told by an ENT that I needed to quit singing for at least a few months to let them heal. Talk about freaked out! We had GIGS! If I took time off, who knew what would happen to the band — or my place in it.
Long story and three voice coaches later, I found a teacher, Tom Blaylock, who taught me more about the voice than I ever would have learned had I not been in such serious vocal trouble. I not only was able to keep singing while the nodules healed, I ended up on the other side of that experience with the tools to keep my voice healthy for the rest of my life — and the chops to sing more of the sounds I heard in my head than I ever had before.
I’m indebted to Tom for saving my career, and for teaching me how to teach. I’ve been a certified teacher of his method for over 20 years now.
To be or not to be.
Know Thyself = A Sustainable Life 🎤
Which leads me to a personal, psychological reveal: I’m an introvert (who knew!).
According to the Meyers-Briggs profile, I’m an INFJ. I’m also a highly sensitive person (HSP). Knowing both of those things has been hugely helpful to me in creating a sustainable life in music.
Learning how to make time to repair, restore, and reflect has proven to be essential for my physical, emotional, and mental well-being — and I know it's important for all singers to learn these skills.
Which is why I teach about self-care and self-knowledge in my course, too!
✧ THE COURSE ✧
Becoming a Singer
I’ve taken everything I’ve learned over the last 30 years and created this course for singers who want to create a life in music. Lessons include…
Creative Exercises
Performance Psychology
Neuroscience
… and more. Becoming A Singer prepares you to step out on stage with confidence and a new sense of purpose, ready to share your authentic voice with the world.
Music Projects
Nu Shooz
“Grammy nominees Nu Shooz filled the airwaves and dance floors of the 80s with their own brand of Soul and R&B. Known for their chart-topping crossover hits I Can't Wait, Point of No Return and Should I Say Yes, the band gained a worldwide fan base and a place in music history. Their smash hit “I Can’t Wait" still plays somewhere on Earth every 11 minutes.”
☞ Hear what we’ve been up to since 1985 over HERE on Bandcamp!
Brain Chemistry for Lovers
Love — what is it? And why do we spend so much of our lives trying to find it, keep it, or get over it?
In Brain Chemistry for Lovers, I turned to some of the finest minds in science and art to answer these questions. Together, we created a combination concert, cabaret, and science lecture exploring one of the most universal human emotions — Romantic Love.
Brain Chemistry For Lovers was one of my favorite projects EVER. I had the experience of a lifetime collaborating with Darrell Grant, filmmaker Jim Blashfield, arranger John Smith, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Oregon Health Science University senior scientist, Dr. Larry Sherman.
The show examined the stages of romance, connected them to the brain chemicals in each stage, and revealed them through the best of American Popular Songs. What could be better than to marry science, film, and music — in the service of love?
To find out more about this project, watch Vince Patton’s Oregon Art Beat Piece on The Making Of Brain Chemistry for Lovers.
Nu Shooz Orchestra
In the summer of 2006, my husband John and I went into the studio with some of our favorite jazz musicians to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our signature Nu Shooz hit, I Can't Wait.
The result?
I Can't Wait Unplugged, an acoustic version of the song with jazz instrumentation and a laid-back vibe.
And it came out so well that we decided to make a whole album with the same musicians!
Lyrical and dreamlike, playful and sublime, Pandora’s Box took us into strange new worlds filled with Spy music, Tarzan movies, and Debussy.
Add a splash of our signature brand of deadpan funk played by a band Gil Evans would have loved, and you have my favorite recording project, shaken, not stirred.
Listen:
Side by Side w/Tom Grant
Timeless melodies, smooth delivery, a musical conversation … this is what Side By Side is all about.
My album with Tom Grant is a special collaboration. We created new takes on some of our favorite classic tunes — honest re-interpretations of the originals.
Side by Side is a collection of piano and vocal duets that explores a wide range of material, from Tin Pan Alley favorites, like the title track, to modern standards, such as Up On The Roof and Alone Together. Tom is a superbly fluid piano player. It was a joy to make this music together.
Listen:
The Knights of Swing
I’ve always been attracted to horn bands, from the Shooz to Earth Wind and Fire to Count Basie.
When I heard Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie, it turned my head around. I would listen over and over again to her note choices and her phrasing, and of course, nobody swings like the Count.
In 1998, I began performing as one of the featured singers in the Woody Hite Big Band. Backed by key players from the Hite band, who I called “The Knights of Swing,” and with my husband John contributing arrangements, I went into the recording studio. The resulting CD, Beginning to See the Light, marked a new phase in my career.
Doing this record got me reconnected with why I make music in the first place — because it brings me joy.
Listen:
All proceeds from Beginning To See the Light benefit arts education programs for children.
Want to learn more?
Click the button to read my official biography.