 Suzie
McNeil, 28, is a scintillating blues-R&B-rock singer and a
full-time musician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
She's done everything from commercial jingles, to musical
theatre, to studio and live performance. Suzie’s powerful voice
and dynamic stage presence have earned her the opportunity to
perform with and beside many highly respected Canadian musicians
including Ronnie Hawkins, Garth Hudson (The Band), King’s X,
Robbie Lane, Jerome Godboo, Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Jeff Martin
(The Tea party), and quite often with Jeff Healey.
She currently runs
KidMusic, a Toronto-based group of musicians.
Suzie plays the guitar, piano and harmonica, a sample of which
she performed on the Stevie Wonder classic “Superstition”
earlier on the Rock Star: INXS show, receiving particular praise
from the band.
Not only has Suzie performed in her own bands (Rounder, Fourstar,
The Suzie McNeil Band) she also has performed both as Ozzie
Osbourne in Sweet Leaf, a Black Sabbath tribute band, and as
Agnetha in AbbaMania, as diametrically opposed vocal stylings as
one can imagine. Regarding the Abba show, Suzie remarked “I
remember a show we did in Florida and this wall of energy from
the crowd that came off them-I thought I was going to faint,"
she recalls. "I was really surprised by how much people get into
it. But then again, it's a show that's easy to get into. It's
kitschy, over-the-top fun. There's nothing deep or hard about
it."
Suzie’s passion has always been to create and perform original
music with various bands she’s led during her career, as well as
write and collaborate with Toronto singer/songwriter/guitarist
Sean Cotton.
When with Fourstar, Suzie sang a collection of original alt-pop
songs, one of which won this year’s Mix 99.9 National
Songwriting Competition.
As one of the final four in competition for the lead vocalist
position in INXS and the last remaining woman of the eight who
began the contest, Ms. McNeil has already proven herself more
than a beautiful, soulful singer who can caress a song or belt
it out as needed. She has the absolute best voice of any of the
four left. Not simply according to this humble reviewer, but
according to INXS themselves (9.11.2005).
Suzie in Her Own Words
While all of the rockers are understandably emotional, the guys
try to mask their sadness as much as possible. But Suzie’s real,
raw emotions lie just under the surface, which both imparts a
passion to her performances, and at the same time comes out in
tears. As she said about them:
It feels nice to release sometimes because this
situation comes with stress like no other!!! – Suzie’s blog,
July 28
Although she had many influences, when she got to perform Get
Back it was a true highlight for her. That performance, combined
with Superstition and By My Side, won over both INXS and her fan
base. As she says about The Beatles:
The first real band I ever got into as a kid was The
Beatles -- and I was obsessed with them. For the longest time,
that's all I listened to…This was the first performance show
that I actually felt grounded…I was the most calm that I've
ever felt on that stage so far – Suzie’s blog, Aug 3
Musicians form attachments, especially to other musicians.
But this situation is unique:
It’s so hard losing such great friends every week…It’s
difficult to get so attached and grow to really love everyone
here and then compete against them all. It’s a very
bittersweet situation. – Suzie’s blog, Aug 4
But at least there are some times for calm reflection. It may
seem on the reality portion of the show to be all sturm & drang,
a nonstop emotional rollercoaster. But fortunately, it isn’t
that way 24/7.
Right now I'm sitting in the backyard looking at the
Hollywood sign & thinking how lucky I am and how cool this
place is. – Suzie’s blog, Aug 13
And now, the final few days are here. The final performance
show. The final vote. It doesn’t matter the outcome; they have
all won, enriching both their lives and ours as a long-forgotten
viewing audience hungry for some good rock music on television
and stuck so often with a choice between nothing and worse. This
show, and Suzie McNeil, have brought a bit of that good feeling
that sweeps over a person when a beautiful song gets into your
soul. Perhaps she says it best in her September 12th blog:
The Final performance show! I can't believe everything
is almost over!! I've been working quite hard trying to get my
songs ready because this night is very important at this
point. I can't wait to just wail.
The four of us left promised each other that we can't leave
that stage until we are absolutely spent. And we all want to
try and get back to the place where we started in this thing -
the root of who we are.
The other night we went out and saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers
and Parliament Funkadelic concert. George Clinton is so chill
and I loved seeing Bootsy Collins. It was nice to experience
people having fun making music with each other. Sometimes I
miss that here, there's so much pressure all the time that
sometimes it's hard to remember that I just love music so
much. I love listening to it, dancing to it, and creating it.
-- Bio by Joel Conner for ROCKBANDLOUNGE.COM
Suzie McNeil
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