Onliest is: Ganessa James & Tiffany "Zelle" James. Irresistible earnest delivery, harmonies, and lyrics implore you to listen and be moved. We explore our own cultural diversity and eclectic musical tastes within songwriting, drawing on urban, Caribbean, Latin, folk and jazz influences.
Self taught singers, we dreamed of making music, real music! Our early heroes, Take 6, En Vogue, Boyz II Men made heavy use of harmony which we couldn’t get enough of - and harmony became an essential part of our sound. Other icons, such as Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, and Joan Armatrading struck us with their meaningful lyrics and instrumental virtuosity. As younger artists, we worked by re-interpreting existing tunes, from classic doo-wop to contemporary stuff like Mary J. Blige. We hadn’t done any songrwiting at this point, but we felt that eventually this would follow if we stayed focused on the music. We learned by listening. It was crucially important to retain creative control over our emerging creativity. A big part of this would be learning how to play instruments - we picked up whatever we could find! Eventually Zelle took the guitar and Dez took to the bass. After this point, the songs started coming, and Onliest was born. We strove to create original & relevant sonic artwork, stuff that we would’ve liked to hear on the radio maybe, or at least stuff that could provoke thought. We stay below the radar with our eclectic an unpredictable performances, sometimes featuring a band, and sometimes kicking it as a dynamic duo.
We’ve performed at most NYC venues you can think of, as Onliest and as part of other independent scene bands we work with. We love being on stage, we love being in the audience, most of all we love making people fall in love with our quirky New York City gritty twin-art rock soul.
