Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ms Cam. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ms, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I started my musical career when I was six years old. First with the guitar. My father had his father’s guitar in the living room. Old guitar, very hard to play but he always said I was the only person who could make it sound good. So I started taking lessons at my village school. I didn’t like the classes very much. I preferred to learn on my own at home, at least I could play what I really like. With my sister, we even wrote some songs. It was very funny, I can still remember it and sing it today. Then, at the age of eleven, I was diagnosed with scoliosis. I had to have surgery. It was a very heavy operation lasting more than eight hours. When I was brought home after a few weeks in the hospital, I didn’t want to play music anymore. Holding a guitar felt so heavy. So I stopped completely, but my father didn’t want me to give up. He tried to cheer me up by playing his records at home. Lots of jazz, funk where the bass guitar is very present. One day he came home with a bass. He said to me, “Cam, you don’t want to play guitar anymore but do you know the bass is the backbone of a song? I interpreted that as a sign. What if the bass was the instrument I should play? I took lessons, which were obviously without success. But the second year, it was a different teacher and everything changed for me. I have learned so much in two years. We sometimes stayed more than two hours in class instead of 45 minutes. He taught me everything. I even replaced him on concerts that he couldn’t perform, I started playing with band of all genre (reggae, funk, pop, jazz, etc…). And I continued my studies at a jazz school in the nearest town. I stayed there for four years then I decided to leave France to continue my career in the United States.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Ms Cam, a French bassist, singer and DJ. I am a stage and studio bassist for artists who need musicians. I moved to New-York City five years ago. First, I started as a music teacher in French schools. Then, little by little, by going to jam sessions, I met a lot of musicians and started playing here and there. I still remember my first concert at Pianos on the Lower East Side with a pop singer. After that, everything went pretty smoothly and quickly. I was getting calls for gigs or to record in studio. And then the pandemic came and everything fell apart. No more concerts, only remote recordings. I had the chance to participate in some great projects. It was when I was contacted to sing a song in French for an international project that I started writing my own. Little by little the pandemic calmed down and the concerts were able to resume. Getting back to normal life was so good. I did a lot of gigs with a vinyl DJ, where I played bass during the show. We were contacted for a wedding. But of course, asking a vinyl DJ for requests is not easy. Luckily, I brought my laptop that day, so I started playing the TOP 40 that everyone was waiting for. That’s when it all clicked in my head. What if I DJ myself and play bass at the same time? I was given a controller, and it all began. My first DJ gig was at the Four Seasons Downtown Manhattan for the Unicef ​​Halloween party. After that, I started DJing full-time in restaurants, at parties, in clubs or hotels (Williamsburg Hotel, 1Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Soho House, and more…). Now I’m trying to concentrate on my own songs, and working on releasing an album next year while Djing and playing with lot of artists.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I love social media. I can only be grateful because I got a lot of work thanks to bass videos that I posted during the pandemic in particular. When I left France, I wasn’t on Instagram or other social media at all. When I arrived in the United States, I realized that people ask you for your Instagram before your phone number. That’s how I started. Your online presence is your portfolio. I think the key is to post regularly and obviously, to post interesting content. Not to reproduce what already exists but try to be innovative. I know that sometimes we can be discouraged because a video that we think is good doesn’t work the way we would like it to but you must not be discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As an artist, your role is to inspire people. Entertain them. Make them happy if they are sad. You can convey so much emotion in your art. You can send messages through your songs. When you DJ, you can help people forget about their problems with the music you play.

So, I love the creative process that comes before showing your art to the world. When you work hard, and you are happy with the result. You say to yourself, that’s it, it’s ready, I’m ready to release it, my show is good, my DJ skills are good, I think I can manage to keep the crowd on the dance floor. It all takes a lot of time and practice. But when you get there, you’re proud of yourself and you can say you did a good job. That’s the personal reward.

But when people are telling you that what you have created has touched them, they can relate to it, they love it, they love your energy on stage, they want to come back to your show, listen to your songs everyday.

That the greatest reward! I love my job and I am very grateful to those who have supported me from the beginning, encouraged me, trusted me, and those who continue de believe in me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/mscam
• Instagram: mscamartist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQUCPCceX6tUai8sjPsewCQ

Image Credits
JP Yim Adelaide Chantilly Brian Lau 924Photos Maky Sujo Gusa