JESSICA FOXLEY STAGES

Jessica Foxley Unsigned was set up in 2010 by the Foxley family in Jessica’s memory, to provide high profile performance opportunities for younger musicians. In 2018 it was renamed Jessica Foxley Stages.

Now in its 10th year, the project forms an important part of the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival. It has gone from strength to strength, attracting younger musicians of a very high standard from across the UK.

In 2019, the project’s organisers, Jessica Foxley Music Projects, invited four outstanding, younger, under-the-radar acts to play sets on the two main stages, the Hippodrome and the Muni, on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

The selection of the 2019 Jessica Foxley Stages acts was made by a panel of judges, which includes professionals from the blues music industry.

Find out more about this year’s Jessica Foxley Stages ‘under-the-radar’ talent:
Emerging Blues Talent

Plus, one of the bands playing at the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival, under the Jessica Foxley Stages banner, will be offered the opportunity to participate in the 6th UK Blues Challenge, which will take place in September 2020.

The selected Jessica Foxley Stages band will join four other bands that will have been chosen by a panel of more than 550 people drawn from all spheres of the blues in the UK.

The winners of the UKBlues Challenge, which is organised by the UKBlues Federation, will be invited to represent the UK at the 36th International Blues Challenge in Memphis  and the 10th European Blues Challenge in 2020.

For more details about the UKBlues Federation and the UKBlues Challenge visit www.ukblues.org

JESSICA FOXLEY MUSIC PROJECTS

Jessica Foxley Music Projects is a not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers, set up to give public exposure to outstanding young musicians and at the same time help sustain partner music making organisations by introducing fresh, young talent.

Jessica Foxley Stages is the longest running of several projects which have been established by Jessica Foxley Music Projects. It is run in partnership with the organisers of the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival.

ABOUT JESSICA FOXLEY

“It was within a week of our daughter’s death, when driving past the restaurant we had frequented as a family for many years, that Paul and I realised we wanted to do something positive in the wake of such a devastatingly negative event in our lives. We imagined our next visit to that restaurant and our conversation with people we knew there. We realised that a ‘project’ would give us a focus on the future to counterbalance looking back over years of wonderful memories. Living life to the full is about embracing the future as well as celebrating the past.” (Margaret Foxley)

Fittingly, that restaurant, Carlo’s, became a Roadhouse venue for the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in 2017.

“Jessica was a talented musician, her voice being her instrument of choice. Jessica died at the age of 21, just as she looked set to make real progress with a career in music. She had been frustrated by lack of opportunity and at the time we had very little understanding of how the music industry worked so we could be of only limited help to her. After her death we knew we just had to find a way to create new opportunities for other young musicians. Being able to give them a leg-up like this is wonderful. It gives me and my family a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that Jessica’s legacy has created something so positive.” (Paul Foxley)

You can find out more about Jessica on the website dedicated to her memory and the projects bearing her name at www.jessicafoxley.com