Jersey Born Song Bird, Makes Her Home, Wine and Music Here in the Coachella Valley
By Lisa Morgan
Recently voted Coachella Valley Weekly’s Female Vocalist of the Year for 2013, Nicky Vallee has come a long way since moving to the desert and news casting for one of the deserts local news stations. Even though Nicky and her brother grew up in a music loving family, playing air guitar with their whole hearts until they finally got their hands on the real deal, music was not a career choice until later in life. “I was a newscaster for 10 years, most recently on CBS, channel 2 from 2005-2007. Being in front of people was something I was actually good at, but had never thought of music as a career until after I left the news business.”
“I had always played guitar in college and special events for friends. Two years after I left TV, I had seen an ad on MySpace for a singer who could perform classic rock and Stevie Nicks songs for a band in Idyllwild. I thought, ‘What the heck! I’ll see what happens.’ I actually got a reply from Alex Watson, a musician who also builds his own basses and guitars. I went up and sat in on a couple songs with them and it went well. He and I became a duo, Chica and the Man playing mostly in Idyllwild and then The Grill on Main in La Quinta. A couple of years later, Willy Boner and I met, and gelled immediately. We formed Dreams, and have been together for several years. Most recently, we’ve been performing at Rancho Las Palmas every Wednesday night during season. I also perform now as a solo performer.”
Nicky shared that she really enjoys the work she does as a solo performer in spite of the fact that there is a bit more stress involved. “I really enjoy the fact that I can play what I want to, and have a little more creative license.” Still, there are times when she feels playing with someone else is a little easier emotionally. “You can feed off that other person’s energy. When you‘re alone, you are the sole source of that energy. You almost always, if not always, have to be on your game and focused on what you’re doing. Sometimes that’s difficult to do if there’s something going on, you’re distracted or for whatever reason you re not into it that day. Anybody that performs would admit to that, if they’re being honest. But once you get out there on your own, it’s time for you to shine and do your thing and put everything else a side. In some ways it’s a form of therapy. No matter what’s going on in my life, there’s an adrenaline that you get immediately that helps you put everything else aside. That’s the magic of music.”
“There’s a really nice reward that comes with making other people happy, and helping them get away from whatever they’re dealing with.” I somewhat facetiously asked Nicky if she was making loads of money at this, already knowing the answer. She continued in her positive, genuinely gracious tone, “The money is hit or miss. Sometimes you have a plethora of gigs, and other times, it’s quiet. You have to be patient and trust that things will come around. You have to stay committed to what you’re doing and make good connections with your audience. I hope one day to make it profitable in the future.”
I asked Nicky to share a little about the value of the tip jar: “We’ve had people come up to us and hand us a $50 bill, saying, ‘You made it a very special night’.” As impressive as that kind of tip would be to any artist, it was interesting to note that the value for Nicky was not weighed based on the monetary value as much as the amount of appreciation that the gesture reflected. “It’s obvious that you touched them in a genuine way that had some real value to them,” she shared. “I had someone come up to me – an older gentleman, and he said to me, ‘I don’t know you, I’ve never met you, but I want you to make me a promise.’ I thought to myself, ‘that’s interesting, I wonder where this is going’,” she chuckled. “As he pressed a folded up bill in my hand, he said, ‘I can tell that you make people happy with your voice. You have a gift to give to the world, and I want you to promise me that you’ll never stop giving that gift.’ I was struck emotionally. I made that promise. I looked down after he left, and there was a $100 bill in my hand. That’s the sort of thing that lets you know that you’re on a good path and that you’re making people happy with what you do. It is really rewarding.” Pressing her a bit, I mentioning how rare a thing that is on this end of the music industry. She agreed wholeheartedly saying, “More time than you even want to think about, it doesn’t happen at all. You almost have to block that part out because if you don’t, you’ll get frustrated and never keep going. There are those nights that you’re outside in 110 degrees, you’re just dying, it’s just the start of the night, and you’re thinking, ‘How am I going to get through this?’ But then there’s other times when it’s great! You make record tip money, you’re having fun because people are hooting and hollering and really into it, loving the music. It’s those few moments that supplant all the negatives. That’s what you have to choose to focus on.”
Not only is Nicky one of the Coachella Valley’s favorite performers, she is also a wine diva. “I was approached by Paul Cullen (the bass player in the band, Bad Company in the early 90s). He has his own series of private label wines. We found a lot in common in terms of our love of music, wine, entertaining and food. He asked me if I would be interested in doing a wine under his portfolio. I said, ‘Absolutely!’ It’s called Gypsy Red. The second I tasted it, I knew that it was the wine I wanted to market, and that I wanted people to enjoy. I had a feeling that it would be appealing to a cross section of pallets, and I was right. I’m amazed how well it has been received throughout the desert. It’s on a lot of different wine lists. People have been enjoying it since its launch in January, and it’s been doing really well. I’m crossing my fingers!” Dish Creative in Cathedral City, Flemming’s and Babe’s Barbeque at the River in Palm Desert, Piero’s Pizza Vino on El Paseo, The Cork and Fork and LQ Wine in La Quinta all offer Nicky’s Gypsy Red Wine.
Nicky will be enjoying the summer with her brother in New Jersey, performing at various clubs with him until her return in the fall. Follow her adventures on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicky-Vallee/
