Occhi Interview: Award-Winning Multi-instrumentalist and Vocalist Sandra-Mae Lux

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Award-winning multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Sandra-Mae Lux was singing almost before she was walking. Even at a young age, Sandra-Mae had an ear for melody and was already penning songs by the time she was 10. Completing her academic training at Capilano University British Columbia, Sandra-Mae graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies on Saxophone. She received multiple awards such as the Phil Nimmons Scholarship for Outstanding Achievement in Jazz and was spotted as a stand-out Top 30 Under 30 in a Vancouver newspaper. She has performed twice at the Ottawa Jazz Festival where she shared a stage and performed with many recognized artists such as Robert Glasper, and Herbie Hancock, and opened for Dave Brubeck.

Never one to look back, Sandra-Mae relocated to London, England in 2017 to hone her songwriting craft and to record and release her debut album “Happily Ever Now” in 2020. An instant classic, this album contained the stand-out numbers “I’m Still Here”, “Moment in the Sun” and “Do U Wanna.”The dreamy groove of “I’m Still Here” caught the attention of Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 6) and built a loyal fanbase among rare-groove DJs and soul aficionados.

Christmas 2020 saw the release of her classic Christmas ballad “Where is Christmas Now” and in 2021, the release of “You Me and Tomorrow” made it to #3 on the UK Soul Chart. A new soul track, “The Last Time” came out just this year as the AA of a 7” vinyl with “I’m Still Here” on the A-side. Sandra-Mae is also a voice acting performer of note, appearing in multiple roles as part of the cast of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” audio dramas performing alongside James McAvoy, Andy Serkis, John Lithgow, Michael Sheen, and more. She is also a Recording Academy / GRAMMYs ® Voting Member.

Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Magazine. For readers unfamiliar with you and your background, what drew you to a career in the arts?

Music called to me from a very early age. My mom told me that I sang before I spoke haha. Some of my earliest memories are of standing on tables and singing at family gatherings! I started playing piano at age 6, took up the saxophone at the age of 11, and guitar at 13. As a very bullied teenager in high school, music, and the arts literally saved my life. Music for me, especially in high school, was sort of an escape from all that bullying. It was my safe place, my haven, a place where I could express my authentic self, knowing that I wouldn’t be judged or made fun of.

Were it not for the encouragement from my extraordinary high school music teacher Jeremy Hepner, I might not be here. He opened my eyes to what a career in music could actually be, that it was even possible. And frankly, if Jeremy hadn’t caught me at that time, I probably would have gone into some other career altogether, and been a very very unhappy person. In my last year of high school he said to me “You don’t pursue music, music pursues you.” He went on to say that you can either do it now while you’re young or find out that you have to do it later on, when it’s a lot harder!

I started gigging properly during and after University, and after gigging in function bands and doing my own shows for a few years, I came to a point in my career when I looked at my life in Vancouver and said “Wow, I’ve done every gig this town has to offer.” At that moment, I knew that I needed to go to a bigger city to continue my growth as an artist. Alan (my writing partner) was at a similar stage in his life and had an opportunity to do a one-month run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. When he invited me to join him and relocate to London, I said yes; it felt like the perfect opportunity had landed in my lap! Within a month, I sold my car, quit my day job, gave up my apartment, put my stuff in storage, and bought my very first one-way plane ticket.

Who were your early influences and how did they impact your career?

I was very lucky that a lot of my parent’s friends and family members had fantastic taste in music, and big record collections! So all of that soul, jazz, funk, R&B, and classical music that was playing in the house when I was growing up absolutely influenced and inspires me to this day. Artists like Etta James, Otis Redding, US3, Amy Winehouse, Donny Hathaway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra have all greatly influenced me. And as a sax player, I was very inspired by the playing of Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Cannonball Adderly, and Paul Desmond.

I believe that songwriting is such a beautiful craft, and my writing partner and I are constantly inspired by the incredible songwriting duos of the Brill Building’s glory days, like Cynthia Weil & Barry Mann, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carol King & Gerry Goffin.

So, embrace collaboration, and ask for help when you need it. Pride gets you nowhere!

My songwriting heroes all worked together to create something better than they would have done on their own.

However, too many cooks spoil the broth. There’s something definitely to be said that when you have more than four people writing a song, it doesn’t necessarily make for a better song. After that, there are just too many cooks and too many egos to balance. One of the worst things to have happened in the music industry (in my opinion) are writing camps. Sometimes there are hundreds of people writing one song for a star, and it just makes for a lot of the derivative, boring music we’re hearing today.

Being in music right now has never been more difficult. It takes me three-day jobs in order for me to pursue music, which makes it almost impossible to find the time to do what I’m meant to do – which is to write, record and perform great music. But the one piece of advice I keep hearing from mentors over and over again is “Keep going. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll get there.” And so here I am!

Which three traits define you?

Positivity, following my gut, and perfectionism (which I’m trying more and more to let go of these days, haha).

Please tell us about more your latest project

It’s crazy to think that vinyl is outselling CDs for the first time in 35 years! The track “I’m Still Here” did really well in the UK Soul Charts, and DJs who play 7” 45s in their sets (and audiophile collectors) were looking for a pressing of it. A soul music distributor approached me to release a 7” vinyl pressing of the track, with a new exclusive-to-vinyl release on the AA side called “The Last Time.” It looks and sounds amazing! “The Last Time” is now available on the streamers, so feel free to give it a listen.

What other projects are in the pipeline?

I’ve written and demo-ed a lot of new music with my writing partner Alan D. Marriott, so a few more singles and another album release are definitely on the horizon! These new singles that I’m working on are more on the pop side of things, which is really exciting! It’s a genre I’ve always loved, so it’s great to finally write, record and produce more in this realm.

Where can our readers find out more about you?

You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at @sandramaelux, on all the Streamers (Spotify, Apple Music, etc), buy merch, including vinyl on BandCamp at https://sandramaelux.bandcamp.com/merch my website at https://www.sandramaelux.com/ and everything else at https://linktr.ee/sandramaelux

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Sandra-Mae Lux – main Photo credit: Tom Gould Title: Lux a la Rembrant / Alfonso Scarpa Description: Lux and her feathered friend Mikey