We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniëlla Rossouw. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniëlla below.

Hi Daniëlla, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I’ve often thought where my life would be had I done things differently, or if I had more confidence in myself as a young musician, would I be on a different plane career wise.

I only came to know what jazz really was when I started my undergrad in South Africa. Growing up I sang in choirs, did some solo singing and mainly played classical piano. My musical influences were mainly pop, R&B, soul and classic rock. I do remember hearing, what I might’ve called, light jazz, like Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Bette Midler, and Kenny G growing up. That definitely got my attention to this music that sounded different and soulful. But I never knew just how deep it went until I started my undergrad.

When I started my studies at Tshwane University of Technology at 19, I started as a pianist in the jazz studies program. Switching from classical to jazz piano was the hardest thing for me, I had never read chords and I had never read a lead sheet. Being one of only two female instrumentalists in my year was tough too, it felt like everyone knew more than I did. I really felt out of my depth and was soon drowning. I quickly thought I had made a big mistake and just wanted to give up. One of my comforts was singing the songs I was learning and my ensemble director at the time said that I should play and sing in the ensemble, and mentioned to listen to Diana Krall. I was hooked! That was when I started listening to the vocal jazz greats, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole, among many others.
Long-story-short, after failing my second semester piano and wanting to quit, the director of the music program said I should switch over to jazz voice, which I was elated to hear was an option, and I ended up doing that.

If I had not stuck it out I would not have met Gerald Stockton the year later who introduced me to UNT’s vocal jazz program. In my second year, 2013, we had a guest lecturer at our university, Gerald, and he was working at the University of North Texas at the time. He told us all about the jazz studies program and I was obsessed. I even started my application the the university and wanted to transfer the next year. Unfortunately reality hit and it was too expensive for me to study abroad, so I made it my goal to do my Masters’ degree there one day. After hustling for the next seven years I finally garnered up the courage to apply and take that next step.

During those seven years I gigged, did three vocal jazz competitions and fully threw myself into teaching music. I never wanted to teach but was told that it was hard to make a living making music. Not being very confident in myself, I believed that and for some time was just comfortable teaching, until one day I realized that was never my dream, I wanted to be a performer from the start, so I decided to take some risks. Don’t get me wrong, I discovered that I really do enjoy teaching music and sharing the joy with someone who discovers their true musical potential, and teaching is part of my life now.

I do sometimes wonder if I had learned jazz earlier and persisted with jazz piano, would I be a better musician or if I had taken the risk and applied earlier and not waited to do my masters degree would I be further in my career? If I had decided to pursue performing one-hundred percent would I even have made it to the US? Those things will never be known, but I know for sure everyone’s experiences and time-lines are different and make them who they are. My experiences have inspired my music and outlook on life. I have met so many amazing musicians and people along the way and wouldn’t change that for anything.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Daniëlla Rossouw, I am a jazz vocalist, educator and composer. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and currently live in Denton, Texas. I grew up in a very musical family, my grandmother an organist, grandad a pianist, mom an opera singer and my dad a drummer. My two sisters and I always played some type of musical instrument growing up. I knew from a young age I wanted to be in a creative field and loved to sing and put on one woman shows for the family. I always sang in choirs growing up and did some solo singing performances, but only started voice lessons at the age of 18.

It wasn’t until I went to university at the age of 19 when I learned about jazz and I fell in love with it. I had a tumultuous start with the music and struggled my way through my first year and almost gave up when an encouraging professor, Dr. Chats Devroop, told me I would be great in the jazz voice program. I fell in love with the expressive sound and technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald and musical mastery of Diana Krall. I dedicated myself to master the technical fluency of vocal jazz and went on to compete in multiple vocal jazz competitions both national and internationally and won runner up in the UNISA National vocal Jazz competition and runner up in the Samro Overseas Scholarship Competition. While being a performing vocalist I taught piano and voice at various private schools in South Africa and I also taught at my alma mater, Tshwane University of Technology, teaching jazz and contemporary voice in the higher certificate program.

In 2021, amid the COVID pandemic, I was admitted to the prestigious masters jazz program at the University of North Texas. A longtime dream come true, the rigorous program was the most difficult thing I have ever done, but it has been the most rewarding and growing experience. Learning from Professors Rosana Eckert and Jennifer Barnes was life changing. During my time at UNT I was a teaching fellow, teaching private jazz voice lessons, directing vocal jazz ensembles and teaching an intro to jazz singing class. Being an international student was tough for sure, imposter syndrome was real and dealing with all of that during COVID was intense. I would not have been able to do any of this without my husband at my side being my number one supporter. The opportunities I gained are priceless. I got to be a part of the prestigious UNT Jazz Singers and even recorded with them. I am featured on the Album “I Carry Your Heart”, and also got to arrange for and perform with Laila Biali, Kurt Elling and Sinne Eeg. I also sang with the Two O’Clock Lab Band led by Rob Parton.

After graduating I got a job offer to teach jazz and commercial voice at Syracuse University, so I moved to upstate New York for a year to teach studio lessons, vocal ensemble and songwriting at SU. It was a great year experiencing teaching in higher education in the US. I have discovered that I have a passion for educating young musicians and helping them find their confidence and voice through music and humor.

I have now moved back to the DFW area to pursue more performing opportunities and record and album. During my time at UNT I unlocked my true writing potential and discovered that shining a light on mental health is very important to me. My music often highlights the struggles of dealing with mental health issues and reflects the feeling of the chaos that often goes on inside. I have written an album full of songs and I am now in the preparation stages of putting it all together to get recorded. My goal is to have my EP recorded by the beginning of 2025 and release it by the summer of 2025. I am also actively gigging and teaching privately in the DFW area.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We all know the tragedies of the year 2020. When I had applied for my Masters degree at the end of 2019, I never would’ve known what would happen come 2020. I received my acceptance letter in February 2020, ecstatic that we will be moving abroad soon, March came by and halted everything. I had to defer my start date and started my first semester in the spring of 2021. Now the year before, 2020, we all felt the financial hit of the COVID Pandemic. My husband and I both being musicians, it was really hard, we lost all of our gigs and most of our teaching work. We had to postpone our wedding twice during that time because of lockdowns and restrictions in South Africa and we had to move in with his parents.
Even though we experienced all this hardship we decided that we would still come to the US for me to start at UNT come January 2021. We got married a month before we were set to get on a plane. With two bags and one hand luggage item each we made it to the US. Stressed but excited about our new journey, we soon realized it was going to be a lot harder that we thought.
Being an international student I can’t just go out and get any job, my husband was legally not allowed to work because of visa constraints, and being a full time student and teaching fellow was exhausting. Anyway, within 6 months we had used up all our life savings we had on my tuition and rent and surviving and we thought we were going to have to go back home. “Oh well at least I got to learn from the best for 6 months” – I said.
But God had other plans. Three and a half years later, through prayer, persistence, and amazing community and friends who believed in us, I finished my degree and we are still here. During this time I have learnt to trust people and accept help and that it is okay to ask for help in difficult times.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My faith is very important to me. I’ve never really been one to publicly talk about my faith, and have always been shy to do so. But the last four years have changed me and I’ve experienced God in so many ways. Because I have experienced severe depression and anxiety I leaned into my faith to help get me through it. Music is my outlet and how express what I feel or am going through, and believe God has gifted me with this talent to share with people. It’s my faith that drives me to do what I do, weather it is writing music, performing or teaching, I want to bring glory to God in all that I do. I also really want to help and inspire other musicians that struggle with mental health and just let them know they are not alone in all of this and it’s okay to talk about it. There is so much joy that can be found in music and sharing it with others. When I am on stage with other musicians, there is nothing that makes me happier than being in that moment making something unique with other like minded individuals.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniella_hart_rossouw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniella.hart.12/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DaniellaHartMusic

Image Credits

Rozier @ Okay Deer
Brandon Benham