Michaela McClain grew up the youngest of 6 girls, and according to her mother, “she was singing before she was talking”. When her father played guitar, Michaela and her sisters all crowded around the piano and sang in harmony like a real life Von Trap family. “When we were growing up, our house was always buzzing with music and people. I was lucky enough to be introduced to some great music as a child…everything from Carlos Jobim, to Ella Fitzgerald, to the Indigo Girls. Bossa nova, soulful jazz and rich harmonies influenced my musical taste early on.”
As an adolescent, Michaela sang in choirs, cantered in church, and sang at weddings and funerals. She wrote her first song on guitar when she was 14 years old, and throughout her teenage and college years, songwriting served Michaela by giving her an outlet and opportunity to express her heart, grapple with feelings and connect to those around her.
Michaela studied music at Montclair State University, which is where she met her current bandmates, drummer Meredith Foreman and guitarist Raul Abbad. She was joined a little later on by New Jersey native, bassist Brad Schwartzseid. In 2011, McClain started performing her original music in front of live audiences, and since then she has performed over 300 shows in the NJ/NYC area, both solo and with her band.
Michaela has released several music videos, as well as 5 EP's consisting of a total of 28 original songs. In 2013, she won “Best Indie Act” at the Jersey Acoustic Music Awards, and in 2014, she released her first full length CD and DVD, “Michaela McClain, Live at Blue Light Sessions”. Michaela's talent has already received quite a bit of recognition (Her song “He Loves Me” has been played on Sirius Radio, and on Jet Blue and Continental Airlines), and she has performed at many of the well-known listening rooms in NJ and NYC. She was also invited to join and perform for The New York Songwriters circle at The Bitter End, the oldest most established showcase in the country for great original music.
As of the Fall 16', Michaela courageously retired from her 8 years as a full time music teacher to focus on her music full time. She continues to teach private voice and piano lessons out of her own studio in Montclair, NJ as she has for the last 11 years.The future is very bright for this driven, dynamic singer/songwriter. Stay tuned!
Some notable quotes: Jersey Audible says, “When you listen to her catalog of music, you'll pick up on nuances of her favorite artists while she weaves her words around your ears. You can see in her eyes that the music she's creating is a piece of her soul.”
“McClain blends faucets of soul, folk and jazz in a wonderfully intoxicating way” says Ed Magdziak of You Don't Know Jersey.
