Singer-songwriter Whitton takes vintage to a whole new level with her timeless voice and sense of style. The Nevada-born crooner sat down with Cliché and told us all about her childhood, road to fame and what’s to come in her life as a budding artist. Check out Whitton’s newest album “Rare Bird” on her website or Facebook page now!
Photo by Jeff Fasano
Cliché: Tell me about yourself, where did you grow up, where are you living now?
Whitton: Well, I grew up in Reno and I went to catholic school. I started dazzling Reno folks at the age of 6 in a theater show called “Sunshine Generation” where I would sing in all the old age homes. Now I’ve finished my new album “Rare Bird” which I’ve been in the studio for two years making, so I’m just getting my touring boots on and getting ready to go out and tour the US this coming spring. I typically like to tour with only about a four piece because you know how much money that is to have such a big band on the road, but I have a CD release on the 22nd in Reno with my full 10-piece band.
C: What was it like growing up in Reno?
W: As you can tell my stage name is Whitton, but my first name legally is Jaime. My parents decided to have 6 kids because of the movie sound of music. My mother cut her hair like Julie Andrews, she made all of our clothes out of curtains, and she sings and plays the ukulele. My dad is an actor in Hollywood, James Lawrence Whitton, so they decided to raise us there and now we all have our own musical endeavors.
C: Did you always know this is what you wanted to do?
W: I graduated high school when I was 17 and then had a record deal in Malaysia with my first band called “Jaime and the Blue Suits,” which was a big 10-piece band. We played jazzy techno-blues music, a very interesting, very European sound. So, that actually fell apart and from there I joined a reggae band for a couple of months. At the end of my 17th year I moved with my sister, Stacey Whitton-Summers, to Myrtle Beach, SC where we recorded my second album, but our first album together. She’s actually a Marilyn Monroe, Shania Twain and Gretchen Wilson impersonator. I was so fortunate to get to travel with her because she goes all over the world. We would just go play music on the side. It was really a fun experience. However, as far as this album I’m just releasing, I saved all my pennies that I made over the last few years installing voice and data cables for computer connection, building microwaves and radios for corporate buildings and then bartending on weekends. So I really saved all my money to get the top players, the top recordings, the top engineers and even down to the illustration, so I’m very, very proud of this new record.
