Jessica Lee

Opportunity didn't come knocking for Jessica Lee, it blew the door in. "Basically, two years ago, I was at school at Ottawa U and they were having this YouTube contest to sing with Marianas Trench at Massey Hall in Toronto," she explains. Because her roommate dared her to, Lee entered herself, "kind of as a joke." And then she forgot about it. And then she won. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The 21 year-old Ottawa native wasn't an absolute novice when Josh Ramsay winnowed down all those contest entries and invited Jessica Lee to duet "Good to You" on arguably the most venerable stage in Canada. "I used to dress up as a Disney princess and sing at birthday parties," Lee offers, with a giggle. "And I did some singing at church." Still, "Oh gosh, I was so shocked," she recalls. "To go from doing science all the time to, suddenly, 'Oh, I'm going to be singing in front of 3,000 people.' It was a little unexpected. It's one of those things where you've gotta pull yourself together and just do it." Lee actually surprised herself a little at Massey Hall, discovering that she felt perfectly comfortable on stage. She also realized she was putting a powerful instrument on ice wh... more...