Gig - Jacquie Young

Jacquie Young didn’t mean to be a musician. She started off as an actress but then after a spell in the States and a period of illness she ‘literally emerged singing.’ Jacquie tells me this over the phone as we discus her forthcoming gig at the Royal Oak. She also didn’t mean to become a songwriter. After the initial transition from actress to musician, Jacquie spent a few years singing in a covers band entitled Missing in Acton. “I don’t want you to think I’ve lived my whole life by default”, she laughs, “but when I first thought I would like to start singing some original music I didn’t think I would be writing it myself. Then I met my guitarist Gary Jones and he really encouraged me.” Once she started, Jacquie found that her bluesey Americana-influenced songs were not slow in coming. “It just started to pour out of me”, she says, “I would find myself writing about all sorts of personal experiences. Life and my own take on it. But now I find myself looking at other people more and the way they live their lives”.

The first time Jacquie sang her own music live was at a gig at the art-deco Shoreham airport. “It was absolutely terrifying”, she tells me. It must have been helpful to have the acting training at that point then, I say. “Yes, but only in that I was able to cover up my nerves.” Tonight a much less nervous Jacquie will be returning to the town that the Worthing-based singer loves. “I always look forward to coming here”, she says, “It has such a wonderful community atmosphere.” ER