JANIE BAY’S RECIPE TO CHART-TOPPING SUCCESS
Chart-topping, pop artist Janie Bay shares the healthy habits and discipline she’s needed to make it in music.
A musical achiever at school, Janie Bay has been performing from the age of twelve. Hailing from the beautiful Helderberg area in Cape Town, Janie moved to Jeffrey’s Bay after school, and taught herself piano and guitar so she could write her own songs. Today she’s a SAMA nominated recording artist with a new album titled Prisma.
The 7-track album emerges from her time in lockdown and contains themes of family, love, passion, loss and encouragement, and range diverse moods and musical textures that play widely between emotive ballads, lighthearted pop and a good dose of electronic adrenaline.
Since the move from her hometown, Janie’s career in music and personal life have flourished. We met Janie at her home, where she relayed stories of singing and performing with her brother growing up, as well as her decision to break into the entertainment industry.
“I just loved music and realised this was something that I wanted to do as a career, so I started writing music in my early 20’s and reaching out to other musicians and producers on social media, to just try and get a network going.”
In the process of building business relationships in the recording and touring industry, she struck a chord with fellow musician Deon Dee.
“We met at my dad’s place, a venue called The SinkShack in Bronkhorstspruit and just clicked. We became friends for about two years and then I kinda fell in love with her,” reveals Deon.
In their time together he has seen her music streamed six million times and now he’s literally joined the band. Deon also co-produced Prisma with Janie, along with Ruan Graaff.
“Right now I kinda help her [Janie] with her management, bookings and I’m her guitarist which is really fun because I get to tour with my wife, so say.” adds Deon.
It goes without saying that Janie’s dedicated to her craft, but she’s dedicated to her health and wellness too.
“Staying fit is always important for me especially. You have a lot of late nights when you do gigs and sometimes even early mornings. But I think with everything that you do, it’s important to find times, even if it’s just for short workouts, and to make healthy choices when you eat. It’s super important,” says Janie.
Her routine sees her doing pilates and walking as much as she can, so she figured why not use the time to give some of the dogs which Debbie Buys looks after, a chance to stretch their legs.
Debbie is the Managing Director of Wet Nose – a registered non-profit organisation devoted to the rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of abandoned, abused and neglected animals. The right to life facility is currently home to over 400 animals ranging from dogs and cats to horses, donkeys and a range of farm animals.
Like her fondness for vintage clothing, Ms. Bay chose to give a senior dog a stroll and while doing so we seized the opportunity to get her advice for up and coming artists.
“The best advice I can give to young, up and coming artists, is to keep going. You have to keep grafting and make that decision to wake up in the morning and say, ‘I’m doing this. I’m doing this for me because I’m passionate about it.’ It’s important to keep the passion and don’t let anything else lure you away from what you love.”
True achievers keep walking, while never forgetting to help others do so too.
