WHO IS VERNON BUSH?
Vernon Bush is a singer/songwriter, musician and recording artist, who worked with Whitney Houston and jazz legend and song stylist, Nancy Wilson. With his groups, ("The Vernon Bush Group" and "VSOUL"), he has opened for artists as Gladys Knight, Stanley Jordan, Mickey Hart, and Michael Franti & Spearhead and has toured over over Europe. He is also a featured vocalist with the Glide Ensemble at the world-renowned Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco (as seen in movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness") as well as musical director of The ICA Choir and former musical director of the Glide Teen (Performing Arts) Choir (GTC) and is by far, one of the hardest working artists in the Bay Area. A passionate singer as well as a consummate voice teacher and coach, Vernon has taught privately in New York, Los Angeles, London, Holland as well as San Francisco and he also teaches workshops in voice and speech production
'If you can speak, you can sing' is an old African proverb that Vernon shares with people who think they can't sing. Vernon goes on to say that, "Regardless of what others (including the voices in your head) have told you, I don't believe people are tone deaf, there is no such thing as someone who 'cannot sing'. There is a distinctive melody and rhythm (if you listen closely) even in plain speaking. What each of us has is truly a very unique, one-of-a-kind instrument and one should approach it as that. I'm here to encourage my students to learn to joyfully discover and explore their own distinctive instrument -- just as babies revel in making their first sounds." Vernon's focus is on unblocking' the voice -- finding the voice and freeing it from judgmental censors. His goal is to foster a sense of inner connection and well-being through music. "Singing is truly an expression of happiness -- just notice when you catch yourself humming a tune under your breath without thinking: nine times out of ten you're probably in a good mood and space". Vernon Bush has been singing gospel from the time he could walk. Having grown up in the Baptist church community and being the son of a prominent Baptist minister in New York City, he directed his first choir at the age of fifteen, and since then, has been working with aspiring singers of all ages from around the world.
He currently lives in San Francisco, teaching elementary and high-schools as well as being one of the faculty teachers at the innovative Jazz School in Berkeley, CA.