Quietly sitting beside a tape deck, ten-year-old Vanessa Marquez is rewinding Mariah Carey’s debut album, captivated by the sounds coming through her speakers. “I would sit for hours at night, rewinding the tape over and over playing back the songs…studying (Carey’s) vocal runs trying to mimic what I was hearing. I dreamed of sounding like that,” recalls the Rialto, California native. “That was the first moment I realized that I wanted to become a singer and that music was going to be a huge part of my life.” These lengthy sessions would continue for years to come as Selena, Lauren Hill, and Musiq Soulchild worked into the mix.
Raised in a traditional Mexican-American family, faith was an integral part of Vanessa’s upbringing, as were large family gatherings. At these frequent family events, music and dancing could always be found with grown-ups and kids alike. First singing in church at the age of three, Vanessa’s family began to encourage her during these family functions after noticing their daughter taking to the spotlight. Along with church Vanessa credits her parents for giving her early musical influences from Gloria Estefan, Luis Miguel, the Temptations, the Beatles, Al Green, Juan Gabriel, Marvin Gaye, and the Jackson 5.
At age seven, her choir teacher noticed something different about the energetic youngster’s voice and began assigning her solo parts in group sessions. This quickly developed into a consistent role for Vanessa, as she became the soloist in church programs. Vanessa’s strong vocal prowess is attributed to her early gospel influence and can still be heard in her sound today.
In Vanessa’s early teens, the Marquez family would frequent the local Golf ‘n’ Stuff family fun-park, where a small all-in-one recording booth was set up. It was here that Vanessa created her first recording, covering Mariah Carey’s version of the Jackson 5’s, “I’ll be there.” A friend on Vanessa’s softball team would later hear the demo and arrange an introduction to producer Wardell Potts, who had his own studio. Absent of pro tools and modern day studio software as we know it, Vanessa began working with Wardell on her demo recording straight to tape. Regarding the experience, Vanessa remembers, “it being tough in those days. We didn’t have the luxuries of Pro-tools we have today, but I’m thankful for the training that creative process instilled in me because it serves me in the studio today.” Wardell later took Vanessa and her demo and arranged meetings with Quincy Jones, Warner Brothers, and Magic Johnson who happened to be developing plans for a label at the time.
A development deal was soon struck with Warner Bros. and Vanessa entered the studio to work with hip-hop producer Johnny J (Tupac Shakur, Candyman). After creating a demo and delivering early tracks to Eddie Singleton of Warner Bros. A&R, the team felt the tracks just weren’t strong enough for the hip-hop marketplace of the late 90’s and the project never materialized. Although a solo release never came to pass, this period wasn’t completely without merit as Johnny J featured Vanessa on “This Ain’t Livin’” and “When Thugz Cry”, as a part of 2Pac’s 2001 release after his passing, Until The End. Determined, Vanessa continued to press forward taking her studio and recording experiences alongside Johnny J with her. During this transition period Vanessa would be featured on the Slow Pain & Nino Brown track, “Rollin’.”
Fast forwarding down the road, a consultant who worked in connection with Justin Timberlake came across Vanessa’s music and arranged a meeting with Vanessa and her parents after Timberlake showed interest in the singer’s material. By her own admission in complete awe, Vanessa was ecstatic at the opportunity to meet with an artist she so heavily revered. The meeting would prove to be a success and Justin would later pass the singer to the producer of his upcoming album, Pharrell Williams, as a potential artist to pursue. Williams liked what he heard and the two made plans to somehow incorporate Vanessa on Timberlake’s album, Justified. That collaboration would be realized on the first single from the album “Rock Your Body” which Vanessa was featured on and sang background vocals for. Shortly after her work on Justified, Vanessa was given the opportunity to lend her vocals to the branding world as a part of the now infamous McDonald’s campaign, “I’m Lovin’ It”, that ran in the early 2000’s.
After working as a vocal contributor on a few sessions with the Star Trak team, the Arista Records joint-venture label made the relationship official and signed the young singer as an artist to their roster. The Star Trak family wasted no time orchestrating collaborations with such artists as Fabolous, Nelly, Bow-Wow, and Brian McKnight. Vanessa was featured on Usher’s European release titled, “Sweet Lies” as well as the 80’s reminiscent produced track by the Neptunes, “Good Girl”, released on Neptunes Present: The Clones.
It was originally planned for Vanessa to begin work on a solo record, but plans shifted to the development of a girl group after Star Trak leadership had a vision of creating a modern day Latin-English version of the Supremes. Fellow Star Trak label mate, Natasha Ramos, and Vanessa were paired together and seemed to fit like long lost sisters, but the group never fulfilled its third member and plans slowly dissolved for both the girl group and for Vanessa’s solo release. Frustrated at never having the opportunity to develop material dedicated to her own sound, Vanessa faced a crossroads with one of the toughest decisions of her career and chose to part ways with Star Trak to pursue a different creative path. “Some of my most cherished memories are with the Star Trak team and I took with me so much growth from that experience. I owe (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) so much for making me a part of their family and I will be forever thankful for my time with them and their influence on my music.”
Since leaving Star Trak, Vanessa has refocused on the dream that started inside her as a child and wasted no time getting back to work. Whether it’s an overpowering ballad, R&B smoothness, Spanglish remix, or a night out at the club banger, fans have always connected to this Latin beauty’s style. Vanessa continues her diligent pursuit of finding her voice as an artist in both the Spanish and English worlds, connecting with fans through a creative process that showcases personal songs about challenges she’s overcome in life and lessons she’s learned in love, and remaining unwilling to compromise in creating music that truly reflects who she is.
