Kelley Johnson

"Kelley is an inspiring and fun-loving music teacher! She has helped me become a more confident singer and has instilled in me a fondness for vocal jazz." So there you go! P.S. I really do mean what I wrote! ~ Ted Daschle, age 16

"Lessons with Kelley are never dull. There is always excitement and fun within her lessons. Every week is a new surprise and I want to practice what I've learned. She is very encouraging and improves my voice more than I thought. She is the right teacher if you're looking for fun, exciting and true musical passion. I can't wait till the next week for my next lesson." ~ Maya Menon, age 13

“Kelley helped me navigate my classical technique and choral training so I could find my own voice, develop myself stylistically, and stay in shape. In my high school years she helped me make it into the High School Jazz Choir for the Grammy’s in LA and helped me apply and get accepted to North Texas State and USC for voice. Now I write songs and perform professionally in contemporary pop and jazz. I owe a lot of my artistic and vocal development to my work with Kelley.” ~ Hilary Woods, age 23

“Kelley has the perfect balance of guidance, space, ideas and technical skills. She makes me want to please her and I always leave with encouragement from her – along with something to work on.” ~ Melissa Mager, attorney

Kelley Johnson is a voice teacher of jazz and popular singing styles and an internationally known jazz singer. She specializes in helping people find their natural singing voices and enjoys working with all kinds of singers and beginners alike. Kelley believes that singing is an opportunity for personal fun and freedom of expression so she presents the material in an organic and positive way with room for mistakes and humor. Her mission is to guide each student toward singing in an effortless way that is empowering for them and makes great music!

Kelley draws from years of traditional vocal training and her own professional experience in various microphone styles of singing as well as her certification in Somatic Voice, the LoVetri Method, a methodology that balances the body and voice for all styles of contemporary commercial music. Kelley also uses the piano to teach musicianship to students who are interested in learning about music for songwriting, sight singing, general music theory or jazz improvisation.

Kelley moved to Seattle in the late 80’s but soon burst onto the national and international jazz scene, garnering honors from Wynton Marsalis, Kennedy Center, Jazzweek, Lincoln Center, Jazzconnect, Jazz Education Journal, the U.S. State Dept’s Jazz Ambassadors program and many others.

She and her band have twice been selected by the U.S. State Department to tour as a Jazz Ambassador performing and teaching in Japan, Turkey, Croatia, Uzbekistan, China, Nicaragua, Honduras, Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Panama, Russia and more. Kelley is the first-place winner of the 2003 International Jazzconnect Jazz Vocal Competition, has recorded “Live at Birdland” at the historic New York City club, and received the Jazz Education Journal’s “Blue Chip Jazz CD Awards” in 2004. Kelley is a singer, music educator, composer, arranger, lyricist, poet, and producer of four CD’s that are internationally distributed on her label, Sapphire Records – several of which have risen on the national jazz radio charts.

Kelley Johnson graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music with an AA in Jazz Performance, and from the University of Washington with a BA in American Music History. She has been Conductor and Artistic Director of the Children’s Jazz Chorus at the Seattle Metropolitan Urban League. She is a past associate professor at Cornish College of the Arts and is currently on faculty at the Seattle Drum School in Georgetown and at Music Works Northwest in Bellevue.

You can catch Kelley locally at Tula’s in Belltown, Bake’s Place in Issaquah, or on one of her four internationally acclaimed recordings.

Visit Kelley Johnson's website.

Music Works NW is proud to offer individual vocal jazz and contemporary commercial music lessons with Kelley Johnson. Call 425-644-0988 to register.