Ever since the age of three, Jourdan Justine Rystrom has been singing, dancing, and acting. The Hugo, Minnesota native, Jourdan started writing her own songs on guitar and piano when she was eight. After taking voice, piano, and flute lessons for a year, Jourdan’s teacher told her she should start auditioning. At the young age of 12, Jourdan landed the leading role as Mary Lennox in Bethel College’s musical, The Secret Garden. That was her first audition! Since then, Jourdan has been on and off the stage acting and singing in musicals such as Joseph & the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, The King and I, and Jesus Christ Superstar. In high school, she landed the lead female role of Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors and Sandy in Grease, and even won Best Actress in the Twin Cities Award Runner-Up from the Hennepin City Theatre District in Minneapolis. Commentators described her singing as an “unmatchable ability to express herself through her music”.
Jourdan has a lot of power and depth in her voice, and a wide range for a female vocalist. When she sings, she not only communicates the emotion of the song through her body language, but she performs TO the audience - not just in front of them. Improv is one of Jourdan's strong points. She is also a guitarist, plays a decent amount of piano, and writes all her own songs. She can hear harmonies everywhere in music, and she believes that helps her immensely with her writing.
All of this was great, but Jourdan had always wanted more than just her calm, predictable Midwestern life. She got what she wished for beginning in 2003 – but not exactly the way she pictured it. Her father, Todd Rystrom, who was a local musician and Jourdan’s lifelong inspiration, had a seizure and a cardiac arrest at the age of 42. It took the paramedics 23 minutes to get his heart started again, and since so much time had passed, most of the oxygen had left his brain. This unfortunate event left Jourdan’s father with an anoxic brain injury and no short-term memory, leaving him unable to work, drive, or even walk by himself.
Saddened by the loss of her father’s personality and music, Jourdan – now more than ever – was determined to succeed. Not only for herself, but to carry on her father’s legacy of music and all that he had wanted for her in his life. After making MMEA All-State Choir two years in a row as an Alto I, Jourdan decided she wanted to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and she would do anything to get there. It was her dream school – the #1 college in the world for the study of contemporary music! When she auditioned in Chicago, she walked out of the audition room knowing in her heart she had made it. Later she found out that she would receive a scholarship based on her audition. Even though her family struggles with finances because of her father not working and her mother losing wages because of the recession, Jourdan’s mother promised that she would do whatever it takes to get her to her dream school. Jourdan graduated from White Bear Lake High School with honors that spring and continued on her exciting journey.
Ever since attending Berklee in fall of 2008, Jourdan has been passionately devoted to creating music. She tries her best to write a new song every day, and practices vocal exercises to improve agility, pitch, range, and vocal strength. She loves to sing all genres of music but her favorites are rock, pop, and gospel. Since the age of 14, Jourdan could belt out power-ballad songs like “Angels” by Robbie Williams and “Hero” by Mariah Carey (which you can find online or under the Videos section). Jourdan has trained with instructors such as Mary Heston Dahl, Duane Moody, Anne Peckham, Kristin Cifelli, Donna McElroy and most recently, Traditional Gospel Ensemble with Dennis Montgomery. Jourdan teaches voice lessons and has gained knowledge working with young children. Jourdan has taken guitar labs and private lessons to gain even more skills not only to accompany herself while singing, but to also solo on the instrument.
As you can tell, Jourdan's songs are very hook-filled and melodic - perfect for the commercial pop industry. Scarlet Keys, Jourdan's lyric writing teacher exclaims: "Jourdan shows great potential as a songwriter. She shows a natural gift and innate ability to write commercial songs."
Jon Aldrich, Berklee's Songwriting professor and Jourdan's private teacher exclaims "I was blown away by her abilities as a writer, arranger, producer, and singer! This fine young woman seems to have every facet of a successful superstar career in perfect order! She thinks, writes, and acts like a seasoned professional. Even all of this aside, I have to admit the most impressive part of Jourdan's persona is her attitude. She is one of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever met here...and with no ego problem. She is simply preparing herself to properly attack the music business with all of the most effective weaponry she can muster. Her talent and personality will take her far."
In May of 2011, Jourdan graduated Berklee with a major in Songwriting. She moved to Los Angeles in June to start her music career and the rest is history. She has been actively singing, songwriting, acting and modeling, and is a member of the prestigious Los Angeles a Capella group "Audacity".
Jourdan has learned that you can achieve anything in life – you just have to believe in yourself, work hard, and never take anything for granted! |
