Jesse Clegg (born July 25, 1988) is a South African singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist, whose three studio albums, ''When I Wake Up'', his 2011 follow up ''Life on Mars'', and his latest, ''Things Unseen'', have made Clegg a platinum-selling success in his home country. He is the son of

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist, some of whose work was in musicology focused on the music of indigenous South African people ...

, who was a prominent musician and anti-apartheid activist.

Biography

The son of

, Jesse spent the first six years of his life on tour with his father. After the widespread acclaim of his first album, Clegg's music caught the attention of the Canadian record producer

David Bottrill David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Formerly, he owned Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz. Moneen, Basia Lyjak, and The Getaway Plan are among the artists to have recorded at th ...

. He subsequently moved to Toronto for four months to work with Bottrill who produced his second album. ''Life on Mars'' was recorded at

Metalworks Studios Metalworks Studios is a music recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1978 by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock group, Triumph. Over a span of 40 years, Metalworks has been the recipient of Canadian Music Week's ' ...

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

. Another notable contributor was the recording engineer

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

who mastered the album in New York. In 2014, Clegg brought his music to the international stage. He embarked on a seven-week tour across the United States and Canada, which comprised 32 shows in 31 cities. He has also played numerous high-profile showcase festivals in the US – including the

CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

New Music Seminar The New Music Seminar (NMS) is a Music Conference and Festival held annually each June in New York City. The New Music Seminar originally ran from 1980 to 1995 and was relaunched in 2009. NMS features over 150 CEOs and other executives, presiden ...

, and the CBGB Festival. On 14 June 2014, Clegg performed on the main stage at UK's

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

. In 2015, Clegg returned to studio to record new material for his third studio release, entitled ''Things Unseen''. Produced by Dennholm Harding, the first single, "Use Me", was released in July, and immediately started charting on national radio, reaching the No. 1 spot on several stations. It remained in the iTunes Top 40 for three months. The second single, "Souvenir", was released in December, and the album was launched in June 2016 at a sold-out event in Johannesburg. The album debuted in the iTunes Top 10 albums chart. The latest single, "Breathing", featured a collaboration with Shekhinah. It was met with widespread acclaim and high rotation play-listing on national stations. It was the second No. 1 single off of the album. Clegg has recently returned from his second North American tour, where he played 36 shows across the continent from 17 March to 1 May 2016. He has released six Top 10 singles and toured extensively throughout South Africa. As an official ambassador for the Nelson Mandela 46664 Foundation, Clegg has been invited to play at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

in New York for the annual Mandela Day Concert. He has been nominated for three

South African Music Awards The South African Music Awards (often simply the SAMAs) are the Recording Industry of South Africa's music industry awards, established in 1995. The ceremony is held annually, usually in late April or May, with the judging process starting in N ...

Discography

Albums

* ''When I Wake Up'' (2008) * ''Life on Mars'' (2011) * ''Jesse Clegg Live & Unplugged'' (2012) * ''Things Unseen'' (2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clegg, Jesse 1988 births Living people People from Johannesburg South African musicians South African people of English-Jewish descent South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent South African people of Polish-Jewish descent South African people of Scottish descent South African people of Zimbabwean descent