A North York flamenco singer is hoping to bring back the romance and love she feels is missing from music when her debut album is released Monday, July 7.
The singer, who goes by the name Roxanna, was born in Iran and grew up listening to the music of Julio Iglesias and Olivia Newton-John, the latter of whom she learned to speak English from by listening to her songs.
"I wanted to be like Olivia Newton-John," Roxanna said. "There was a luxury, the sound of romance in her songs."
When Roxanna was 11, her family moved to Istanbul, Turkey, which came with the freedom of listening to more Western style music such as Madonna and Michael Jackson. The family settled in Toronto in the late 1980s, and Roxanna now calls Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue home.
For someone who believes so strongly in love, it would be easy to understand if she was a little jaded. Just six days before her 1999 wedding, the nuptials were called off. Roxanna flew to Los Angeles to spend time with her father following her devastation, where she wrote her first song, Unforgotten, which helped her believe everything was meant to be and there was hope for tomorrow.
While in California she studied nursing, and began working as a registered nurse after coming back to Toronto and graduating from Seneca College.
Roxanna began singing and humming to her patients, and noted they were responding positively. One patient with dementia who no longer swallowed began to eat after Roxanna sang, she said, and the father of a young man battling cancer credited her voice with helping his son feel better.
In fact, the father, who wishes to remain anonymous, was so taken with her singing he decided to finance her debut album, Exotica.
"In my heart I knew someday I would pursue my dream," she said of a singing career, adding she has her own label, Roxart Inc.
Exotica, which Roxanna worked on since 2012, is produced by Mark Portmann, who has worked with Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand and Christina Aguilera. The album, Roxanna said, has a "Spain and ocean" feel to the flamenco pop songs.
Though all the songs relate to her life, Roxanna said Here With Me and Unforgotten are her two favourites.
"Unforgotten is the first song I ever wrote," she said of the song penned shortly after her broken engagement, adding the video co-starred Days of Our Lives actor James Scott, who played her paramour. "Love never fades. You can get love from friends, family, dogs, cats."
Here With Me is a song about love and romance and reminds her of the relationship her parents had. Her mother died last year.
Other songs on Exotica include Close Your Eyes, originally written for Dion, and Only You, originally recorded as Como Tú by Iglesias, which Roxanna translated into English. Close Your Eyes spent some time on the Billboard chart in the adult contemporary category.
"Get ready to experience something new," Roxanna said of Exotica. "Get ready to hear love, Spain. It’s never too late to go after your dreams."
Exotica will be released at Soho House, 192 Adelaide St. W., at 6:30 p.m. Roxanna will perform a 30-minute set at 7:15 p.m.
The album will be available Tuesday, July 8 in stores and online.
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free).
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation