Hello!
I'm Valerie — a musician, mother, educator, neuroscience/psychology geek, and creative explorer — and I'm on a mission to help singers create a sustainable life in music.
My Story
My journey as a musician and educator began more than 30 years ago.
It’s taken me from smokey little clubs to packed arenas, from performing in obscurity to making hit records and receiving a Grammy nomination with a band called Nu Shooz.
I know first-hand that a career in music isn’t a straight line. There is no point A to point B. I know how to fail. Pivot. Get up and start again.
I’ve also spent years in the trenches as a voice teacher — working with students of all levels of singing experience with different dreams and goals.
My favorite part of teaching?
Witnessing transformation. The Aha! moments. The high notes of a student successfully achieving a practicing or performance goal. I love figuring out how different people learn and then watching them grow. And I’ve learned as much (or more) from my students as they have from me.
What have I learned?
That many of the struggles in a singer’s life have nothing to do with their voice. Every week, students would come to their lessons with questions about practicing, performance, and their music careers. Together, we worked on practical solutions to their problems and, more importantly, how to cultivate a mindset to maintain and fuel their love for music.
I don’t teach privately anymore, but education is still a part of my life.
Living A Vocal Life eCourses are the culmination of years of conversations I’ve had with singers about their struggles. Now I can share what I’ve learned with you!
Full bio can be found HERE.
The Back Story
My mom was a beautiful, talented, tiara-wearing, lyric soprano. She sang with Portland Opera, Seattle Opera, and filled my life with musicals and Gilbert & Sullivan performances. My dad, a physician, had a rich lyric baritone. Growing up in a house filled with music, plus an arts-rich education, created fertile ground for exploration in all the arts. I danced, wrote poetry, studied calligraphy and book making, acted in small theater productions, played piano, and sang.
Fertile Ground
Valerie and John 1975
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 get out + 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. Accompanied dance classes. Cleaned houses. 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.
Getting Cosmic
Valerie w/Brian Davis, Caton Lyles,
& Master Drummer Obo Addy
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, 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.
World Music & Jazz
Nu Shooz plays Neighborfair,
Portland OR 1985
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.
Nu Shooz
Our family photo taken by
Tasha Miller
After the ride ended in 1992, John and I had a son, Malcolm. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us. For more than two decades, I stuck close to home and taught voice and sang 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. (That was THEN! This is NOW! We’ve moved on!) Like 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.
Another Life
What I've Learned
Life IS more about the journey than it’s about the destination.
Success & Failure
The career I chose early on turned out to be an AMAZING ride, with some successes but many, many more failures. And I wouldn’t trade those for anything. I‘m still learning, struggling, and growing, and I hope to continue doing that till the day I die (maybe with a little less of the struggling part!).
Teaching and Learning
Sometimes the things that happen to you that seem the 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.
Speaking of teaching … it’s the best way to learn. I’ve learned as much, if not more, from my students in my 20+ years of teaching than they’ve probably learned from me! People are infinitely complex and interesting. I never tire of trying to answer questions like, Who are we? What makes us unique? In what ways are we alike? How do we learn, grow, change? My bookshelves are filled with books about the brain, psychology, and the social sciences.
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.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— Mary Oliver
Music Projects
NU SHOOZ
Nu Shooz full band dressed in black and red in front of a white background. Photo by Mike Hipple.
“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 from 1985 and beyond over HERE on Bandcamp!
PAST PROJECTS
BRAIN CHEMISTRY FOR LOVERS
Valerie Day and Darrell Grant perform Brain Chemistry For Lovers with The Portland Chamber Orchestra in Portland, OR. Valerie holds a martini glass.
The Subject: 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, watch Vince Patton’s Oregon Art Beat Piece on The Making Of Brain Chemistry for Lovers.)
NU SHOOZ ORCHESTRA
Collage art by John Smith. Red images with an opera singer singing Oooo.
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. 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.
SIDE BY SIDE w/TOM GRANT
Tom Grant and Valerie Day dancing. Photo by Sherri Diteman.
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.
The album 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.
THE KNIGHTS OF SWING
Tom Grant and Valerie Day dancing. Photo by Sherri Diteman.
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.