On The Verge

Laura Jansen

Los Angeles, Calif.
Modern Day Gypsy
www.laurajansen.com

“My parents were world citizens—gypsies,” says singer/songwriter Laura Jansen who spent her childhood between the United States and Holland. “We’d move all the time for fun and work, so it was very normal for me to change schools and try to learn all kinds of new things.” One of the few constants in her life was the piano that her mother got for her at the age of five. Their house was also filled with music, ranging from songs by Joni Mitchell and Barbra Streisand to “weird Brazilian protest songs my mom loved.” After studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, she moved to Nashville, Tenn. but soon feared that she didn’t have a musical voice. It took a bad breakup with a boyfriend for her to find her voice—while alone in their once cozy house, she pounded out her feelings on piano to create the songs on her debut, Bells. Jansen sees the fact that her music springs from dark personal times as a positive thing. “The songs and meanings change as the years go on,” she says. “They are also stark reminders of where I came from.”