Susan Tedeschi - Graduate: Berklee College of Music (1991)

 

Susan Tedeschi (pronounced te-DES-ki) (November 9, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American blues and soul artist, who has risen to fame with multiple Grammy Award nominations[1], her powerful singing voice, fearless stage presence, and her marriage to Derek Trucks. She is also known for the "Soul Stew Revival", a conglomeration of both her band, that of The Derek Trucks Band, and assorted other personnel.
Susan Tedeschi was born on November 9, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts and was raised in Norwell, Massachusetts. Tedeschi has always been musically inclined, and made her debut public performance as a 6 year old understudy in a Broadway musical, which she enjoyed. As well, she sang for family members and listened to her father's record collection of old vinyl recordings, like Mississippi John Hurt and Lightning Hopkins. Raised as a Catholic, she found little inspiration in the church choir, and so attended predominantly African-American Baptist churches, feeling the music was "less repressed and more like a celebration of God." She's played in bands since the age of 13. At the age of 18, she formed her first all-original group, the Smokin' Section, in the nearby town of Scituate, Massachusetts. 

After graduating Norwell High School, Tedeschi attended the Berklee College of Music where she sang in a Gospel choir. She performed show tunes on the Spirit of Boston and received her B.A. degree in musical composition and performance at age 20. 

During that time, she began sitting in with local blues jams at venues there, and immersed herself in the Boston music scene. Many country artists have also influenced her.