Irene Jackson

Songwriter, Guitar Teacher, Music Producer

Irene Jackson Bio

To say that music has always been a part of my life would pretty much be an understatement. I first picked up a guitar in 1969 when I was 12 years old and started writing songs, and I haven't looked back since. I learned to play clarinet in the school band a year after that, and have pretty much always been able to pick up an instrument and get some kind of sound out of it. This has come in handy many times when I've worked on creating music in my home studio.

I first started performing in the early 1970's with Lynn Connolly in a duo we called Moonstone. Eventually I took that name for my production company. Lynn and I won the songwriting category in 1974 in the local Kiwanis Music Festival, and we played locally in many coffeehouses and other events. Eventually, Lynn I both went off to persue other interests.

I also became the lead singer in a basement band called Estipod around the same time. Estipod was an 8 member Chicago-wannabe band and we had great fun perfoming in venues in and around the lower mainland in the 70's. Eventually, we all went our separate ways, except for myself and the drummer. We got married :-)

I took a break from performing while raising children and then found my way back to it again, at first simply playing covers and then slowly introducing my own songs. When I felt like my songwriting was starting to improve, I decided to record them. At first, I recorded in other local studios, but eventually I was convinced by my husband that I could do it myself.

I first started recording in 1993 and put together my first collection of songs on cassette tape (!!) recorded on a Fostex reel-to-reel 8-track recorder. Eventually, I got a 24-track Tascam reel-to-reel before finally completely switching over to a digital system. Over 20 years, I have released 5 albums:

• Foolishly Fantasizing (1993) - no longer available
  
• Motor Scooter (1997)
  
• undressed (2000)
  
• Catnip (2000)
  
• Shades of Grey (2012)

Songwriting was the precursor to composing music for television, which begain for me in 1993 with the television series Home Check With Shell Busey. Then came the SpeedVision series Canadian Biker Television, the WTN series At Home With Herbs, a local arts and entertainment magazine show, Go! Magazine, and the canine series Doggin' It.

From 2002 until 2007 CHEK Television in Victoria BC carried my music as the theme and general music package. More recently, I've written the theme music and package for the successful home decorating series Design District, a new adventure series called Aboriginal Adventures Canada, a cooking show called Cookin' On The Coast, and a family law series called Family Matters. Most recently, I've been doing the audio post production for three of these series' which I very much enjoy.

My other joy has been teaching guitar in my home studio, which I have been doing since 1989. And in the last number of years, another kind of writing has become my focus. I first began by writing articles for songwriters in 1996 when the internet was in its infancy, and expanded that to include my personal blog, From The Inside Out, in 2007. Lyrics have evolved into writing blogs, which gives me great satisfaction.

I no longer perform, but continue to produce, write and teach in my home studio in Victoria, BC.

IJ