San Diego singer-songwriter Steph Johnson was in the midst of a successful two-decade career, racking up awards and making albums that showcased her blend of jazz, soul, rock and blues.
But it wasn’t until 2016 that she found what she calls “my purpose in this life:” That’s when she co-founded San Diego’s Voices of Our City choir, an ensemble that features unsheltered people. Since its founding, the group has grown to more than 225 voices and has helped more than 60 of its members get into housing.
The choir was a semifinalist last year on the TV show “America’s Got Talent,” has been featured in a PBS documentary and has performed with the San Diego Symphony.
Johnson will talk about her musical journey at 3 p.m. Sunday, February 14 as the guest in the Corvallis Repertory Singers’ “Maestro Moments” series of online conversations. The conversation will be led by Steven Zielke, the artistic director of the Repertory Singers and the director of choral studies at Oregon State University.
To offer a little background before Sunday’s session, we emailed Johnson a list of questions, giving her a chance to elaborate on topics ranging from misconceptions surrounding homelessness and how her work with the choir helped to shape the recording of “So in Love,” her 2020 collection of jazz standards and favorite ballots. Here’s a taste of her answers. (For the full Q-and-A with Johnson, click here.)
Question: You've had a 20-year career in music, so you're not a neophyte. But what did you have to learn about leading a chorus as Voices of Our City started?
Steph Johnson: First, we learned how to create a welcoming space for each person who walked through the door. Many of our singers hadn’t eaten, they needed drinking water, safety, a restroom, an outlet to charge their phone – so perfecting a vocal, or jumping into technical stuff, was not the most important piece in our coming together. As we focused on creating an environment full of joy and ease, our choir members relaxed into their voice. We chose songs that were fun, popular hits that our singers remembered: soul music by artists like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, and Stevie Wonder became the soundtrack to our weekly rehearsals. As time went on, we assigned parts and worked on harmony – but that was almost secondary to our coming together to breathe, to listen, to receive the healing benefits of the music. The professional musician in me had to learn how to let go and simply allow our rehearsals and performances to be what whatever they were going to be in that moment.
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