Listen to KarmaDeva tracks here
A brief history of the work of J.J Stanness,singer songwriter and lead vocals of KarmaDeva.
J.J trained as a dancer at the Laban Center of Movement and Dance in London U.K and spent her youth choreographing and performing in dance and physical theatre companies in England and Wales.She has in the past worked under a couple of different names, Jane Sherman(her family name) and Jane Roth ( writing/acting pseudonym).In her dance days and as the singer with folk band Childe Roland and Rock outfit XMachina she worked under the name Jane Sherman and as Jane Roth she and Julia Davis(Nighty Night/Human Remains) created "The Sisters Of Percy" performing their two woman show around the country.They also wrote a play,"Me,Me,Me" and a vast amount of comedy characters and sketches devised for radio and t.v which have yet to be seen by the public.She and Julia also worked at that time with Rob Brydon(Marion and Geoff) and Ruth Jones(Fat Friends) touring in a live comedy impro theatre company. Every now and then Jane and Julia rekindle their comedic collaboration, as with "Nighty Night" in which Jane created the character of Cath Cole and made a brief appearance in the second series as the depressed and downtrodden Karen Pole.She also appeared in an episode of "Human Remains".
In 2000 J.J met Pete Stanness( bassist and founder member of Sunderlands Blue Corn Void ) when he heard her singing her songs at an intimate acoustic venue in Bath and later meeting again at a jam session where she heared him playing his uniquely original style of bass.They joined forces very soon after that both feeling an instant musical connection and so began KarmaDeva.
Here are some of J.J's songs stripped down to how they were originally written with Pete on bass and Gav on additional acoustic guitar. These can be heard live as either J.J.Stanness or KarmaDeva acoustic/unplugged and some of the songs are also included when they play the KarmaDeva full electric set.
For Karmadeva info/biog go to KarmaDeva
Disgrace