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Way Late

“I spent almost 20 years as a dancer,” says Alyssa Jacey, whose high point as a hoofer was her 2003 appearance at Super Bowl XXXVII. “But then, in 2004, I started doing karaoke, mainly as a joke. I never had a vocal lesson in my life, I didn’t play any instruments, and had only messed around with songwriting a little. But I ended up emailing a producer who said he was willing to record me.”

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In 2005, Jacey submitted her demo CD to the Del Mar County Fair and was surprised when they booked her for eight shows. “Each set paid something like $50 to $100, and they were two hours each. I had to learn a ton of cover songs, plus I wrote a few originals and hired a guitar player.”

Hoping to evolve as a solo act, Jacey began teaching herself guitar in October of 2005; she landed a paying gig behind the axe two weeks later. “SDSU found my MySpace page and asked if I was interested in performing for their CASE series, held every Wednesday inside one of their Starbucks. I had to get someone else to play with me because I could only perform the first two songs I ever wrote on guitar. We mostly did covers the rest of the hour, so I could sing while he played.”

Jacey — who grew up in Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar — now performs over a hundred shows each year. “I do a lot of my own booking, I design and print my own labels, and I burn my own CDs,” she says. “When I was recording my first full-length album, I bought a keyboard and taught myself to play.

“I was in my mid-20s when I started, which is pretty old when it comes to the music industry.... I started way late.” She appears June 19 on the Paddock Stage at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and June 26 at Hennessey’s Tavern in P.B.

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“I spent almost 20 years as a dancer,” says Alyssa Jacey, whose high point as a hoofer was her 2003 appearance at Super Bowl XXXVII. “But then, in 2004, I started doing karaoke, mainly as a joke. I never had a vocal lesson in my life, I didn’t play any instruments, and had only messed around with songwriting a little. But I ended up emailing a producer who said he was willing to record me.”

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In 2005, Jacey submitted her demo CD to the Del Mar County Fair and was surprised when they booked her for eight shows. “Each set paid something like $50 to $100, and they were two hours each. I had to learn a ton of cover songs, plus I wrote a few originals and hired a guitar player.”

Hoping to evolve as a solo act, Jacey began teaching herself guitar in October of 2005; she landed a paying gig behind the axe two weeks later. “SDSU found my MySpace page and asked if I was interested in performing for their CASE series, held every Wednesday inside one of their Starbucks. I had to get someone else to play with me because I could only perform the first two songs I ever wrote on guitar. We mostly did covers the rest of the hour, so I could sing while he played.”

Jacey — who grew up in Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar — now performs over a hundred shows each year. “I do a lot of my own booking, I design and print my own labels, and I burn my own CDs,” she says. “When I was recording my first full-length album, I bought a keyboard and taught myself to play.

“I was in my mid-20s when I started, which is pretty old when it comes to the music industry.... I started way late.” She appears June 19 on the Paddock Stage at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and June 26 at Hennessey’s Tavern in P.B.

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