Singing sensation comes to South Whidbey

Singing is her passion, music is her soul. That’s singer Valetta Faye’s motto.

Faye performs 7-9 p.m. Saturday, June 16 at Ott & Murphy Wines, Langley. Theme of the show is, “From Me to You.”

Faye will be accompanied by pianist “Nick” Nicholai and drummer Scott Small.

Faye has previously sung on North and Central Whidbey, including with the Seanotes Big Band at the Oak Harbor Music Festival, Holland Happening, Ciao in Coupeville and for the Officers’ Club at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

She describes her music style as “jazz pop” and said the biggest challenge as a performer is keeping the audience engaged.

“A person might say ‘smooth jazz, oh snooze,’” she said. “No, it’s not going to be that way. Jazz pop. I’m going to make this show as exciting as I possibly can.”

Faye is originally from Louisiana and started her musical career early on.

“Whenever it came to performing of any kind, I was there,” she said.

She’s performed professionally in Detroit, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, she performed at the New York New York Hotel and Casino.

She said she’s looking forward to performing at Ott & Murphy’s, especially because she feels the room is cozy. When she first came to Whidbey Island four years ago, something about the room grabbed her attention, so she’s pleased to be performing there at last, she said.

Faye says her roots are in jazz, but she can do blues and “a lot of other things.”

Her job as a vocalist is to make the words written by songwriters come to life, she said.

“They had feelings when they wrote it,” Faye said. “What I try to do is lift their feeling off of the sheet of music.”

She describes herself as “just a regular girl,” perfectionist and a “no-frills” type of person.

“Above all else, I’m me,” she said.

“What you see is what you get. Once I get that mike, then it’s just me and you. And this is from me to you.”