Where others scream their hearts out, Jess Glynnebelts out the notes with ease – as if she would never reach her vocal limits. She looks like a lioness, sings like a lioness and fights like a lioness.
A hot picture of a Londoner: tousled red curls, ripped jeans, bomber jacket, belly shirt. With ice-blue eyes, a lascivious look, full lips and a smoky voice. Holy! It describes Jessica Hannah Glynne, who was born into a Jewish family in Hampstead in 1989. Her mother worked at Atlantic Records, her father as a high-end estate agent, and she grew up in Muswell Hill, North London. At the musical Fortismere School, she was a teenager who was not considered particularly talented. Simply not good enough. Her audition for the casting show “The X-Factor” also failed. By 2008, Jess had her A-levels in the bag and had had enough of music for the time being. She traveled the world, worked in a hairdressing salon, a boutique and a gym. She came back with few useful ideas for the future. She wasn’t interested in studying, she actually wanted to make music after all. Somehow. It was just a shame that she always had her parents’ advice to “never put all your eggs in one basket”. So she had to find a decent job. Jess ended up working for a management agency. Specializing in alcohol. Very good. Not only did she have to deal with so much high-proof that she was fed up with it for good, but she also learned the basics of the business: advertising, networking, promo tours. Above all, however, she learned that she wanted to be an artist herself and not the one behind the scenes. Motivation enough to start writing again. She honed her craft for four years while attending a music course at East London College, where she met her future friends, songwriter Janée “Jin Jin” Bennett and producer Bless Beats. The three had the same musical flair and from then on worked on the unpolished soul diamond Jess Glynne. One of the resulting compositions caught the attention of the Black Butter label, which then introduced Glynne to insiders. In 2013, the time had come: Jess Glynne quit her job and signed a contract with Atlantic Records, the same label that owns the electro-pop group Clean Bandit. It was unfortunate that there was a personal crisis at the same time and Glynne’s relationship fell apart. Her great love was the first girl Jess Glynne fell in love with. She made fun of her, broke her heart, and yet there was something good about the love drama: Glynne combined enough sadness, anger and joy about the record deal to turn all these emotions into hopeful song lyrics. It wasn’t long before Clean Bandit became aware of the addition to the label and wanted Glynne’s voice for their song “Rather Be”. Point charge. A Grammy is already in Glynne’s display case thanks to this song. Producer Rowan Tyler Jones aka Route 94 also sensed his chance. Jess finally rewrote “My Love” for him and sang the song again. The next chart topper. But now it was time for Jess Glynne’s first single. However, “Right Here” was not to be a great success. And now? Back to Clean Bandit. Another good decision, “Real Love” was also well received. In 2015, the featuring curse broke and Jess Glynne landed her first own number one hit with “Hold My Hand”. That was her, the lioness.