Jesse Lang's pursuit of a career in music was inevitable.
Jesse Lang was born December 19th 1982, in Casselton, North Dakota, the fourth child of Jon and Marcia Langseth, a musician and singer respectively, who had been playing around the Dakotas and Minnesota, in part during the time Marcia was pregnant with Jesse.
Starting at age 4, without lessons, Jesse began playing the piano, moved on to the viola at 9, the guitar at 10, and tenor sax at 12. The entire time Jesse was growing up, she was surrounded by music. Her oldest sister Stephanie was a member of a statewide award winning a cappella choir. Heidi Jo, Jesses other sister, is an accomplished songwriter and singer, who performed with Michael Bland, formerly with Prince, Phil Solemn, formerly of The Rembrandts, and Minneapolis icon, songwriter and performer, Kevin Bowe. Heidi Jo's husband, Ryan Lance is the lead singer of the Blenders, an award winning a cappella group, signed to Universal Records. Currently, Ryan is performing with Heidi Jo in a concept group called Brat Pack Radio. Finally, Jesses brother is Jonny Lang, the multi platinum, acclaimed blues guitar phenomenon, songwriter, and singer.
Jesse has been playing, singing, and writing music virtually all of her life, but the path to a career in music has taken a few twists and turns. On a visit to see her sister Heidi Jo, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, Jesse caught the eye of the Ford modeling agency and began working as a model.
During her sophomore year in high school, Jesse began to pursue a career in acting. Eventually, Jesse moved to L.A. and was getting auditions and callbacks for a number of major roles, even catching the interest of producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Coyote Ugly,Bad Boys II, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor).
Jesse still models occasionally and maintains an interest in film, but music is her first love and the avenue of expression that gives her the greatest joy.
Toward the end of 2002, Jesse decided that playing music was what she wanted to do with her life. As a first step to embarking on a music career, Jesse started singing with the well-known Minneapolis band the T.C. Jammers. While singing with the T.C. Jammers, Jesse gained valuable experience performing with musicians such as Jelly Bean Johnson of the Time; Bobby Van Dall, who has drummed on numerous major label releases; and Mark Lichtieg, lead singer for Dr. Mambos Combo and former keyboard player for Spark. All of this was great training, but eventually Jesse needed to focus on her own music.
The idea of a solo career had been kicking around for a while and eventually all the pieces fell into place. Jesse has a notebook full of songs and fragments written by her and with partners, which are being developed into an album. Jesse put together a band, to go out on the road and play both cover and original material. Her father, John Langseth, who developed and managed Jonny Lang's career through Jonny's first Platinum album, guided her through her first year on the road. The culmination of that first year was a Best New Artist Award at the 2006 Minnesota Music Awards.
Her manager and her booking agency, Artist Representation and Management, currently support all of Jesse's efforts with marketing and tour coordination.
© 2006 Jesse Lang
