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Roger Burnley
I am originally from Chicago, where I began my singing career. I initially began in high school and college choirs, including the Chicago All-City High School choir. Singing with the All-City choir afforded me the opportunity to perform with the renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra which was a truly amazing experience that encouraged my desire to sing professionally. Immediately following college I began to study with a local voice teacher which led me to even include opera in my repertoire. While in school I had the opportunity to perform with such notables as Minnie Ripperton and the band Styx.
I soon joined a local rock band as the lead singer and performed in venues that also featured up and coming artists such as Chaka Khan. After performing for a while I encountered vocal problems from the hard edge singing I was doing and decided I needed to continue my voice training.
Soon, I relocated to New York City and resumed study with Tony Franco. I then studied legitimate musical theatre and Broadway styles. I did club dates at local cabarets as well as auditioning for jingles, theatre productions and producers. During that period I was simultaneously pursuing a modeling and acting career.
My career direction soon took me to Los Angeles where I began recording and studied with many vocal coaches.
After many years of performing in clubs, recording and doing session work, I was encouraged to begin my own teaching practice. My vast experience both performing and recording gives me the much needed knowledge to help other singers improve their voice. For the last dozen years I've had the pleasure of training hundreds of singers. Some of the names you may know are: Macy Gray, Brandy, Ray J (Brandy's brother), Nona Gaye (Marvin's daughter), Warren Hill, Wailing Souls (Sony/Chaos Records), Adam Yauch (The Beastie Boys), Dee Dee Warwick, Viola Wills, The Beauties (Gasoline Alley Records), Cause & Effect (SRC Records), Times Three (Solar Records), James Torme', Jason Nesmith, Solomon Burke, Jr. and many session singers, songwriters and rising stars.
In 1992, I began producing the live show, "L.A.s Finest". This was a recording industry showcase for unsigned artists, which ran very successfully for more than 6 years. Then in 1997, I began the cable access television show, "Singing, with Roger Burnley" as the producer and host. I currently continue my private vocal coaching in Los Angeles.
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