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JESSICA ANDREWS
Biography

"As far back as I can remember, the one constant in my life has been music. I was raised around it, my mom was in some bands, and her whole family had a talent for singing. We'd all get together and play music--everyone would sing a cappella. Those sing-alongs were my favorite pastime, so to be able to make a record and perform all over the country is just a dream come true."

With her debut DreamWorks release, HEART SHAPED WORLD Jessica Andrews saw the end result of the evolution of a very musical family. "I've been given a chance a lot of my relatives would have liked but for whatever reason, never had " she remarks. "It's nice that we have this history together because everyone really understands my need to pursue music. They love it as much as I do."

Armed with powerhouse vocals and songs ranging from the poignant "Unbreakable Heart" to the tragic modern love tale "James Dean in Tennessee," Andrews does the family proud, proving their jam sessions were time well spent. Though still young, Jessica's voice encompasses the soulful expression of a woman. The emotion she pours into each and every song is born from experience and pain. What most of her fans don't know is that Andrews was faced with a catastrophic illness at the age of seven.

When she was very young, her parents noticed a patch of skin on her back that appeared to be connected to a bone. Her pediatrician dismissed their concerns, however, advising them to bring her in for a checkup each year to make sure she wasn't developing scoliosis, a severe curvature of the spine. In 1990, Andrews saw another physician who immediately sent her to Memphis' Campbell Clinic for tests, x-rays and eventually an MRI. "They found that a bone was growing through my spine," Andrews explains. "I was really young and didn't understand what was going on at the time, but I knew it was very serious. I was about to have a growth spurt, and the doctors said that if I didn't have an operation, the bone would grow more quickly than my spinal cord, which would leave me paralyzed "

The surgery was a complete success and through it all, she had her music. She credits a fourth grade talent show with pointing the way to her current career path: "I was supposed to dance, but my sister told me I should sing. She heard me singing Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' and talked me into doing it. Can you believe that I won? So I started thinking,'Maybe this is what I should be doing.'"

From then on Andrews sang every chance she could - at fairs and carnivals around her hometown of Huntingdon, TN., and even the smallest, most casual family gatherings. It wasn't long before word of her precocious talent spread. Soon, friends of producer Byron Gallimore (Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina) insisted he make the two-hour drive from Nashville to Huntingdon to see if Andrews was as accomplished as everyone said. His first impression? "I was overwhelmed by Jessica's vocals--the tone and the range," he remembers. "I knew I had to be doing something with her music."

The two immediately began considering songs and getting acquainted in the studio. Once they had a lead on the kind of material Andrews was looking for, Gallimore invited DreamWorks Records Nashville head James Stroud to a showcase in Paris, Tenn. Stroud offered Andrews a deal on the spot. Of his instantaneous decision to sign her, he says simply: "l just broke the rules. It was not about contracts--it was about one truly gifted singer." Responds Andrews: "The confidence Byron and James have shown in me has been incredible. I could never have made an album without it."