Daniela Nardi: Late bloomer?
Daniela Nardi curls up in a chair at the back of a Toronto coffee house, runs a slender hand through her long dark hair and reflects on the term "late bloomer." At 42, the Toronto singer/songwriter—named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards and top Female Vocalist in Toronto for 2009 by NOW Magazine—is gearing up for a new musical phase, one that will put her in the spotlight in a whole new way. And that, she argues, is exactly the way things should be.
"It's too bad we have to wrestle with terms like ‘late bloomer'," she says, offering examples of famous artists who had a lifetime of quiet but steady accomplishment before producing their greatest work. "I'm in a different place right now—physically, emotionally, personally. There is no way I could have handled huge success in the music business when I was young."
Nardi's deep fluid singing voice, moving compositions and technically flawless playing has earned her accolades in Canada and abroad. Her musical education began as a child at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and has taken her to a Fine Arts degree at York University with a focus on composition and electronic music. Her Smooth Jazz award put her in the company of performers like saxophonist Warren Hill, Robin Thicke and Seal. But with two CDs under her belt (One True Thing, 2003, and The Rose Tattoo, 2008), a new Saturday night online radio show and the Smooth Jazz award recognition, she still felt stuck. She'd turned 40 one year, lost her mother to cancer the next and was now worried that her career had stalled.
New York—new attitude as an artist
Then an opportunity presented itself that she could not refuse—a chance to live in New York City for the summer and see what she could make happen. A mini-version of the freewheeling, roll-the-dice run at the Big Apple usually associated with the young and the rootless. Nardi seized the opportunity without hesitation. The result: a whole new attitude towards herself as an artist, and a renewed joy in the possibility of her own talent.
"For musicians, New York is Mecca. It's this mythic place. Like the song says, 'If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere.' My husband (jazz pianist Ron Davis) and I had always wanted to go and live there. But the idea of leaving everything and just moving there felt like too big of a change."
A Canadian friend living in New York was subletting her apartment for six weeks and put up a notice on Facebook. The rent was cheap and the timing perfect. "I said to Ron, we'd be stupid not to do this. It's exactly the kind of experiment we need."
The strategy was simple—get a lay of the land, 'suss out the appropriate clubs, meet with industry people and try to find an agent to work with for future gigs. "We weren't there to perform. We're union members and couldn't work without visas."
