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Overcast and Breezy Young jazz singer from Westbury pursues her dream
Teen wows audience at show hosted by East Meadow Public Library
Westbury resident and singer Leandra McNair just graduated from the Long Island High School for the Arts, and has big plans for her future in music.
McNair grew up around music — her parents often jammed to rock or jazz beats. She also has no fear of the stage — the 17-year-old has been singing in front of an audience since she was three years old, when she joined the St. Brigid’s church choir.
“I have always been a diva, as my mom calls it,” she said.
Though McNair remains in the choir, she has developed experience performing in front of larger audiences.
While performing at her uncle’s art show about a year ago, an employee of the East Meadow Public Library saw her and took note of her talent. The woman invited McNair to perform at the library, and the teen singer eagerly accepted the offer. A few months later, to McNair’s delight, she received a call from the library to set up a date for her own concert.
At the library concert, which took place in April, McNair had the freedom to choose her own songs to perform.
McNair’s favorite music genre is jazz, but she also selected some contemporary songs for the concert. She said she likes to emulate popular performers like Nancy Wilson and Stevie Wonder.
The concert was two hours long with two sets of eight songs and a trio band behind her, consisting of a bass, drums and a piano.
“Every seat was filled, which was really great,” she says. “It was a lot of fun, I miss it.”
McNair clearly loves to perform, and she is pursuing her passion in the fall by attending Berkeley College of Music. She will major in vocal performance.
According to McNair, LIHSA, located in Syosset, has prepared her to go onto a higher level of education in the study of music. The school is a special high school where students can go for a half day or a full day. McNair chose to go for full days over her four years. This means she attended music classes from 8 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. and then took academic classes until 2:30 p.m.
