Calgary’s Melissa O’Neil made history as the youngest female winner in the Idol franchise when she took the Season 3 crown in 2005. Since then she has been active in music and theatre, including British Invasion playing currently at Stage West.
It is a great opportunity she says, not only to be part of a fantastic show, but to be home for an extended period of time over the holidays for the first time in years.
“I got a call from my agent when I was doing a show in Ontario asking if I was familiar with Stage West. I was, but had left Calgary before I had a chance to see any of the theatre. They wanted me to do the show and I was very flattered. I miss my family so much. Every Christmas for the past two years I have been away doing a show. I usually took a red eye but it would mean being home for 32 - 36 hours and then flying back to work. It has been a bit of madness the last few years, it will be nice to be home for Christmas and be able to stay and not rush off for a flight.”
Oftentimes people have a misconception of why an artist post Idol, or who was involved in recording, does something like theatre. But O’Neil insists it is an important part of diversifying her career.
“I love theatre. When artists do visual pieces they can use any kind of medium they want and nobody thinks differently. But when people go from recording to doing theatre and voiceover work, instead of them branching out they say oh they failed at that and are going to go do something else. A lot of people make music as well, three guys in this show have CDs out. I think it is great to be able to have the opportunity to pursue other mediums of performing.”
After her Idol win, the release of her 2005 self titled album, and Let It Go cross-Canada tour, O’Neil departed from the music industry due to a difference of opinion with her label.
“After the album I did a tour for the troops, went to Germany, Belgium and Egypt and that was cool. We started writing for the second record and Sony and I had different views on what we wanted my second album to be. They wanted something in the same vein as the first album, Kelly Clarkson type pop stuff and I wanted to do electronica infused jazz funk stuff. We had different points of view and ended up parting ways. They didn’t want to do the record, but because I had been picked up and they were contractually obligated to do so. When you have one party that isn’t interested in the project - and as the artist I wasn’t interested in what they wanted to invest in - unfortunately they just had to buy me out of my contract and we left it at that.”
O’Neil admits she didn’t have much input on her first album. “I know the Canadian Idol franchise got better with that near the end of the run. We had three weeks to record and put together the album which is not a lot of time. Everything was written beforehand by writers who watched the show. I got to pick some of the songs I sang. I wrote one song with Perry Alexander and that made it on the album called Safe Place to Hide. That is the only thing I contributed artistically. It is me singing but not me artistically. I was 16, I didn’t know who I was artistically and I still don’t know who I am and what I’d like to represent and stand for.”
She bought a condo in Toronto and immediately landed a role in Dirty Dancing which kicked off her theatre career.
“I’ve done High School Musical and Country Legends at the Drayton Theatre Festival. After that I sold my condo and was subletting for a couple of months because I knew I was coming to Calgary. “
Winning Idol, touring and having theatrical success could make a 16-year-old pretty arrogant. But despite all of her achievements in the last four years the 21-year-old remains modest.
“I have a very humble family that comes from lower middle class upbringings. I am very fortunate and lucky to have a family that keeps me grounded. Any time I let my head float away a little bit my parents remind me of who I am and where I came from. “
Once she is wrapped up at Stage West she will rejoin Toronto funk group God Made Me Funky, for whom she is now the female vocalist.
“God Made Me Funky is the new funk revolution coming out of Toronto. We are definitely a performance band, if you come to the shows you will be dancing all night. People will come to the shows unfamiliar with us and it is a huge band - 8 people, trumpets, trombone, it is a lot of people on stage and it is cohesive organized madness. We are definitely a good old party band. The music is anything you want to listen to when you are getting ready to go out. I really dig it and have so much fun since I joined up with these guys.”
