Post by snakesandladders on Apr 10, 2010 14:12:09 GMT -5
Early life:
Bassett was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Daniel and Myrna. At 2 years old, Bassett was encouraged by her parents to start singing. She started playing a half-size Lotus guitar at 3, and by the time she was 5, her father was teaching her on his '83 Ibanez Roadstar II. At 8, she played her first competition at the local fair grounds playing Joe Satriani tunes coming in second place. At 9, she began taking singing and guitar lessons at the University of Connecticut music program. From there, she began to learn all she could about guitar. She discovered that she could both tune and play by ear. In addition to study, Desiree’ was listening to blues and rock music from the 50’s through the 90’s, being influenced by artists such as Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Rick Emmett, Jimi Hendrix, Reba McEntire, and The Allman Brothers.
Rising fame:
In 2005, age 12 was major for Desiree'. Bassett was voted Talent America’s Musician of the Year in 2005 in New York City. She was then invited to play on the side stage at Ozzfest in Hartford, CT. At the Ozzfest performance she met Rob Zombie, the Playstation sponsors, The Haunted, and As I Lay Dying. After these successes, Desiree' started playing at open mics around Connecticut with some of the local blues greats and national players, gaining recognition among them. Desiree', at this time, was starting to become well-known in her local area. Bassist Doug Wimbish discovered Desiree' at an open mic in Hartford, Connecticut. Doug invited her to play in his annual Wim-Bash taking place the following night. She was now playing shows in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. She has met and performed alongside Living Colour, Andy Aledort, some members of the Allman Brothers Band, Johnny Vibrato, Pete Scheips Band, and XY Eli Band among others. Desiree’s first recording happened in August 2005 at Pat Keegan Studios in Wallingford, CT. She cut five tracks where she was featured on all instruments. This first effort was a great success as she personally designed the artwork and pressed up and sold several hundred copies of the CD.
On her thirteenth birthday, Desiree' played two important gigs in her young career. The first was an outdoor event at the Meriden Motorcycle Club, where she was seen by several hundred people and stole the show from the headliner. She then played at an outdoor party in her hometown of Ashford, CT, where she was the featured artist. Desiree played for some of the best musicians in the area, some of whom offered their services as band members. This group is made up bassist David Stoltz, a former member of the Dickey Betts Band and Robert L. Gottfried, who is nationally recognized. In November, Desiree' prepared and presented herself for a showcase at the Hungry Tiger in Manchester, CT. This was a great success because she played for a packed house and came out as a vocalist and band leader. This show also helped her build a local following and established her as a force to be reckoned with on the music scene. In December 2005 she entered the Olympics of Entertainment in N.Y.C. where she was selected as one of 16 finalists out of several hundred. On December 18, 05 , her mother's birthday and with a bad cold and also after tooth extraction, she performed and placed second winning the Silver Medal; being beaten out of first by NBC’s Star Search winner. The days and weeks ahead proved to be very successful for Desiree'. She played gigs in Hartford CT, with Kal David, Andy Aledort, and legendary rockers Living Colour before several hundred screaming fans who couldn’t believe their eyes and ears. After this, she was invited to play at the music industry’s annual 2006 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, where she wins the attention of many famous musicians and picked up her very first endorsement from Peavey, getting this endorsement directly from Mr. and Mrs. Peavey. She was also recently endorsed by Daisy Rock and Schecter Guitar Research. After returning from the NAMM show, Desiree was immediately offered a production agreement from Nova Sound Studios run by Doug Wimbish and Andre Betts, one of Madonna’s producers which she accepted. Desiree' adapted to studio work very well and wrote several of her own songs and some with Doug, making several trips to New Jersey to record. She has also formed her own band, a power trio which she leads called Desiree & The Time Machine, which is managed, booked and promoted by her father. She has played dozens of gigs, corporate events and private parties and re-invested her earnings into a P.A. system, professional stage system, wireless guitar units, and personal savings. She is very involved in the business end of things. Desiree' has also been picked up as an artist in development by Long View Farm Studios recording studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, a world renown recording and production facility. She has made television appearances and done several radio interviews. Desiree' is also a hot topic of discussion on the web, with her MySpace page, she has attracted attention worldwide with fans on every continent and a French fan site. Her videos have been viewed by thousands on YouTube and AOL uncut videos. She is mentioned on several web pages by famous and non famous folks.
At the age of 14, she attended the 2007 Winter NAMM show, and again she performed and made several contacts. She got to meet the likes of Dan Toler, a former member from the Allman Brothers Band, Paul Reid Smith, met Joe Satriani for the second time, Rick Emmett from Triumph, Leslie West from Mountain, and Rudolph Schenkler from the Scorpions. Desiree' was also dubbed the future of rock n’ roll and a wonder kind of kid before 2000 people. During the NAMM show power breakfast, her face appeared on huge television screens on either side of the stage and before a panel of the seven most influential women in the music business today. Desiree' had also been featured in the July issue of Guitar Player Magazine.
At age 15, Desiree' was given the opportunity to sit in with the Marshall Tucker Band at a benefit Concert in Willimantic, Connecticut, even though she was originally placed to sit in with the Shaboo All Stars. She played with them for almost the entire set, only having to give Rick Derringer the opportunity to play with them on a song. Since that show, she was given some opportunities to play at some locals bars and clubs around the Hartford area. At this age, it was also a very important step, it was the beginning of her very first CD, Power & Force. Several months were put into the project, several days were spent putting down all of the tracks. She was fully prepared with these 12 songs going in the studio with her very own material that was written at age 10 and performed ever since. Also in the process of working on the CD, she was still performing out live at local places, and she got to meet and open for Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie Ray Vaughn's brother, at the Taste of Enfield in Enfield, Connecticut. In the month of August, 2008, she was given one of her biggest opportunities. She was granted the opportunity to meet and play lead guitar for Sammy Hagar and his band at the MGM Grand Foxwoods Casino. Within the process of the CD, things were being pushed to the limit, and the goal was set for having the CD released before her 16th birthday.
September, 2008 rolled along, and Desiree' was turning 16. She had two birthday parties, one was a party at the Ashford Town Hall with all of her classmates and friends the week before her actual birthday, and then the CD Release/Birthday Bash two days after her birthday located at the Capitol Theater in Willimantic, Connecticut. The CD Release was a major success, and she had an opener for the night, a band that her father had put together mainly to open for her band. However, within the same night, her bassist had decided to leave the project. Eventually, she had found a new bass player named Bob Laramie from New Britain, Connecticut, who has also toured with Matt Guitar Murphy. Weeks had passed and already the CD was being sent out to radio stations all around the globe. However, although Power & Force had made through as a successful CD, it wasn't exactly perfect, and she was therefore given the opportunity to have it re-mastered by the suggestion of her lawyer Ron Beinstock. From there, he had suggested some top producers, and had mentioned about a producer from Brewster, New York, who goes by the name of Buck Brundage who works for Couch Creative Services, and a producer from Norwalk, Connecticut named Phil Magnotii who works for Silvermine Studios, both of which they work as a team and are three time Grammy Award winners. Also within November of 2008, she also had the chance to open for Rick Derringer at the Slater Museum in Norwich, Connecticut. A few months have passed and Power & Force had taken new heights, and was then considered as the next CD, which was renamed as Power & Force II, which was released in April of 2009. It is different in the sense that two songs were excluded, and it was professionally remixed and re-mastered. Immediately, Power & Force II had taken much greater heights than the first, it had received a full page endorsement ad by CDBaby and it was considered as the best CD they've heard out of the 300,000 they receive through the door every year. And like the first disc, it was being sent out all over the world to fans, radio stations, promoters, etc. On top of this, Desiree' is also a proud member of ASCAP as a writer and composer with several songs listed and copyrighted in the Library of Congress.
After the release of Power & Force II, Desiree' has immediately began working on her third CD. Over the summer, she has also picked up some really important shows such as the opportunity to play at the Wolf's Den at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. There, she was given the honor of playing on the same stage as some of the most famous musicians in history. Within the same month, Desiree' was also given the opportunity to play at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock where she had the privilege to bring up Jimi Hendrix's original percussionist Geraldo Velez and end the night with Jimi's song, Purple Haze, which coincidentally, was the very same song that Geraldo had jammed on with Jimi at Woodstock. Since the Woodstock event, Desiree' has been featured in many newspaper articles, has been publicized on some local TV Shows and radio stations. Also, Desiree' has open up her very own business and record company, Desiree Bassett LLC and works as an independent label ran by her and her father.
At age 17, she had ended the year of 2009, having recorded 14 more original songs for the third CD, and had a stellar closing of the year by throwing it off at the Mohegan Sun Casino to a capacity crowd, performing 3 sets worth of material and also sneaking in a couple of new songs off of the third CD. Within the same region as well, she had been looking out and about on applying for college. Her intentions are that she finishes her education first, and is therefore seeking to get her education at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. So although she has the life of a musician on her plate, she puts education as the most important and therefore puts it as first on her list of accomplishments.
Personal life:
Desiree currently attends E. O. Smith High School as a senior, keeping up with her grades and maintaining good grades, and is known to be able to multi-task very well. Desiree' has a younger sister Jessica, who is also her backup singer on special occasions, and a brother Justin. Jessica, as well as her sister, is multi-talented and has become an inspiration of Desiree', while being Jessica's role model at the same time. She plays the clarinet in the Junior High Band, she sings in the Junior High Chorus, and is the bass player of the school Jazz band. As well as that, she also has the ability to play harmonica, the recorder, and she also plays the guitar, and she picks up on having to learn some of Desiree's originals as well as writing her own material. In addition, she is a high honor student her school, makes a lot of friends, and she very active and loves to spend time with Desiree'.
Equipment Used
Marshall Stack, JVM-410 Head, 1960BX 4/12 Bottom
Gibson Guitars - Les Paul
Vox Amplifiers
Peavey Amplifier Valve King Combo
Mackie PA System
Senheiser and Shure Microphones
Senheiser Wirless Guitar Unit
Fender Guitars: Telecaster, 50th anniversary Stratocaster, and Fender Acoustic
Ibanez Guitars: Roadstar 2 and RG Series
Schecter Guitars: C1+ and Blue Exotic Star
Peavey Guitar: Flying V Vortex
Taylor Guitars: 12 String 6-14 & 6 string 9-14
Pearl Drums
Trace Elliot Bass Cabinets
Status Bass
Pedals: Boss Effect Pedals; Distortion Pedal, Loop Station, Chromatic Tuner, Delay Pedal, Ibanez Tubescreamer, Dunlop Zak Wylde Wah Wah Pedals, Dunlop Zak Wylde Overdrive Pedal, Dunlop Eddie Van Halen Model Phaser
Calzone Road Cases
Acoustics: Taylor, Ovation and Fender.
Yamaha Keyboards
Lexicon Effect Processor
Fostex 8 Track Recorder and Pro Tracks
D’Addario Strings
By blackglove at 2010-04-10
By blackglove at 2010-04-10
