Rising star Gabriella Rego released her EP last year and is well on the way to becoming a musical sensation.
Rising star Gabriella Rego released her EP last year and is well on the way to becoming a musical sensation.
The ambitious singer uses her Portuguese influential background to add a Latin twist to her pop music, making her a unique UK artist.
“I think I’m different because there is no one in the UK that is doing what I’m doing. It is very rare to hear of any artists that are influenced by the Latin genre and actually incorporate it into their music,” says the young vocalist.
Gabriella has been singing since the age of 12 but her career really took off when she got through to the semi-finals of the Open Mic UK competition in 2010. Since then she has been flying high in the music industry, writing and recording tracks for her debut EP (extended play), which was released in June 2012.
“It’s been great to be able to tell people that they can actually buy my music on ITunes and Amazon. I also got hardcopies made and to hold my own EP in my hands was such a great feeling,” says Gabriella.
Despite the university student being an avid singer, Gabriella started writing her own tracks at the age of just 17 and is a big fan of producing her own content.
“I think it’s important to write your own songs because people can relate to what you write about and it’s more important to have some sort of relationship with your fans.” She then goes on to say that if she had to choose between writing and performing, she would choose the latter. “I love writing but nothing beats performing. To be able to showcase something you love beats writing any day.”
Gabriella is currently juggling student life and her passion for producing music whilst she studies for her Portuguese and Brazilian studies with English degree.
“I took a gap year from university to figure out where I wanted to go with my music. I learnt a lot about myself and discovered the exact type of artist I want to be.” says Gabriella.
The London-born artist has a phenomenal talent and Baby Girl Management clearly spotted her sheer determination and spark in 2011 when they offered Gabby a place on one of their development programmes.
“As long as I believe I can do it, I will,” she says.
Gabriella has set her sights on a duet with Taylor Swift in the future. “I love her latest album RED. I can listen to it over and over. I think any young girl loves Taylor Swift as her music is so easy to relate to and the album has a song for everyone so it’d be great to duet with her one day.” But it doesn’t end there for the performer as she has admitted she’d also love to tour with J-LO. “I would love to tour with Jennifer Lopez. She’s been my main inspiration since I was a little girl,” says Gabriella.
Taking inspiration from a variation of things ranging from J-LO to Latin, Gabriella has revealed that she doesn’t have a role model. “There are a lot of people that I think ‘wow they’ve worked hard to get to where they are’ but then every successful person has had to work hard at some point in their career,” she says.
Writing and singing obviously comes naturally to the multi-talented musician who also learnt how to play the piano in her teens and passed grade four. “I’ve been focusing on singing for the last few years so I haven’t really been playing the piano. I plan to get back into it at the end of my degree in June. It’s nice to be able to play and sing,” admits Gabriella.
Gabriella regularly performs at different venues around the UK and is devoted to her fans by posting music videos on YouTube. “Performing is just the best feeling. I know it’s a bit of a cliché but words really can’t describe it. I admit that I do get nervous before I go on stage if I haven’t performed in a long time but once I start singing, nerves disappear,” she says.
Gabriella has put time and effort into her music to get to where she is today and she has admitted that the mistakes she’s made over the years have taught her some valuable lessons. “One thing I would probably change is the video to ‘Over’. I imagined it so different and have been thinking about re-releasing a video for it this year,” says Gabriella.
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