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An American Airlines music spotlight in August, Toronto-based singer/songwriter Roxanna talks on the heels of her debut release, “Exotica,” which features Chris Botti and was produced by Mark Portmann, whose credits include Christina Aguilera, Josh Groban, and Celine Dion, among others. Roxanna also tells of getting a well-known actor for one of her music videos, how being a nurse led to her music career, and her upcoming PBS special.

Notable Guest Quotes

“I worked so hard on this, making this album, I put my heart and soul, my whole passion.”

“When I experienced that… music can heal your soul, music can heal you when you’re sad, even physically, then I said, ‘I’m going to put my heart into this’”

“I’m one of those people that I believe you have to try.  If you don’t try, you never know.”

“I have another music video coming up that, I cannot tell you who’s going to be the actor, it will be a surprise, but, you will see it soon.  It’s for the song ‘Here With Me’ and I’m going to actually ask Samuel Gonzalez to direct this video again.”

“When you want something from the bottom of your heart, I really believe you should go and try it.  If it fails, then you say to yourself, ‘I did try.’  If it doesn’t, then you become successful.”

“This whole album was produced with love, experience in my life, and it’s about, actually, my own life story.  Many artists do say that, it’s about their life story, but realistically if you listen to each lyric, it relates to me and I think it relates to many people out there.”

“I would be the first artist, that I know of, and people in this industry that tell me, that is bringing flamenco music into the English pop world.”

“That one day, that five or ten minutes of performance, changed their life or that day itself.  That makes me so happy.  So, that is also, to me, called nursing, when you make someone feel better emotionally.”

“That’s part of being a good independent artist, is that you can make decisions if you can afford, or, (if) you can do it, (then) you do it.”

Songs on this episode

"Unforgotten"
"Here With Me"