Jade Leonard is a versatile and captivating singer, pianist and songwriter best known for her emotive vocal interpretations. Her distinctive sound embraces the traditions of jazz and combines them with a passion for western contemporary and South American music. She presents compositions and performances reflecting her imaginative and individual approach to music, most frequently appearing as a solo singer and pianist. After completing a Bachelor of Music from the Improvisation Stream of Victorian College of the Arts Jade continued on to graduate with a Graduate Diploma in Visual and Performing Arts (RMIT), Bachelor of Teaching (Deakin) and Master of Education (RMIT). Jade has performed at most of Melbourne’s major concert, jazz club, night club and function venues with all types of ensembles covering jazz, contemporary, pop, world and dance music including Bennett’s Lane, The Regent Theatre and Rod Laver Arena. In 2010, on a quest to perform every day of the year, Jade garnered much publicity when she offered free performances to Melbourne residents through her ‘Jazz At Your Place’ initiative. She completed more than 200 free in home performances around metropolitan Melbourne. At 18 Jade produced her first self-titled EP funded by the Southbank Theatre Company with an incomparable band of Melbourne’s greatest musicians including Joe Chindamo, David Jones, Evripides Evripidou and Mark Domoney. She has since recorded ‘Jazz At Your Place’ (2010) a full length jazz album of original material and jazz standards, featuring Jade and Tony Gould as accompanist as well as ‘Flipsliders feat. Jade Leonard’ (2008) a project duo with drummer Natalie Barber. 2011 saw Jade branch into a new electro-pop sound with the release of two singles, Funny Bunny and Ruby both produced by James Kempster. Both singles also featured acoustic B-Sides with Evripides Evripidou and Doug DeVries respectively. Most recently Jade released her fourth album C4$H1N8 (cachinnate – to laugh loudly) including two queer-pop dance floor anthems 8008135 and 5 both produced by Paul Brandoli. Never forgetting her acoustic fan base, Jade included two acoustic pop songs and a satirical jazz tune ‘Sweet As Pie’. Jade’s music is played regularly on community radio stations including JOY94.9, Eastern FM, 744ABC, 3MBS, RRR and 3CR. She regularly performs live to air on these stations. 2012 is a year of diversity with many projects on the table including: a regional tour of Jazz At Your Place, second jazz album release, performance at the Fiji Jazz Festival, launch of new cabaret show at The Butterfly Club with Trevor Jones, continued collaboration with dance producer Paul Brandoli and a foray into software and app development with her new micro business Online Music Education.