I remember telling my friends two years ago that for my birthday I wanted nothing other than to meet my idol, Axl Rose. I am certain most of them thought I was losing my mind. I booked a ticket to LA and drove to his home. When I was about 2 min away from his house I saw a gentleman walking in the street. His back was facing me, but I saw a tattoo on the gentleman’s leg. I knew that tattoo…..it was Axl’s !!!! I ended up introducing myself and explained that it was my birthday and I had flown from Toronto to hopefully take a picture with him. He graciously agreed. minutes later I posted the picture on Facebook and my friends were stunned that I had achieved what i had set out to do. Since that moment my friends no longer doubt me when I tell them I am going to do something!
That moment was special for me on so many levels. I now keep that photo with him as a reminder that everything is truly possible. It’s not enough to just say you are going to do something, but that you take the necessary actions to make it happen!
If you're going to throw yourself into the ring known as the music business, you need thick skin and balls of steel. It's the most savage industry on the planet, quite often without just rewards after all the blood, sweat and tears have been spent in the pursuit of creating something special. Knowing this, it begs the question: why bother?
The answer is simple: love for the art of making music.
Cue the entrance of Canadian hard rock vocalist Suzi Kory. Born in Lebanon, raised in the Great White North, her drive toward a music career began with something as innocent as a Grade 7 talent show. The performance of a schoolmate lip-synching to the Guns N' Roses classic "Welcome To The Jungle" left the burning question as to what she had just witnessed. Which band was that?! A search led her to the real Guns N' Roses and the iconic video for "Welcome To The Jungle", and the rest is history.
"It was the wildest thing for me at the age of 13 or 14," says Suzi. "It awakened something in me that made the change from prim and proper into this rocker. The game-changer for me was Axl Rose. When I saw Guns N' Roses, and in particular Axl Rose's performance, it blew me away to the point where I said 'That's what I want to do.'"
Suzi comes from a traditional Arabic family, where the idea of having an entertainer in the family was considered shameful, thus putting her dreams on hold. Instead, she moved to the Middle East and lived there for over a decade before returning home to Canada. The tragic passing of a family friend in his 30s rekindled Suzi's desire to make music, which is why she finds herself where she is now in 2017.
"If you die young, you probably haven't done all the things you've wanted to do in life," she offers. "If that happens... what the hell have you been living for? That's when I decided I had to do get into making music. I started writing songs, taking part in open jam sessions, networking, and being everywhere that I should be. Because of all that I've had some amazing experiences over the past year-and-a-half, like meeting Axl Rose in person and singing – very briefly – with Steven Tyler during an Aerosmith show."
The four tracks she currently has in the can were written with guitarist/producer John-Angus MacDonald from The Trews (guitars, bass) and engineer Nick DeToro (drums, keyboards). Definitely hard melodic rock at the core, "Something Ain't Right", "Never Again" and "Too Pretty To Die" all have a distinctive sound not to be confused with anyone else. And for a first shot out of the box, "Too Pretty To Die" has all the makings of becoming Suzi Kory's signature song when it's finally unleashed.
"The song is about a serial killer," she reveals. "It was inspired by a scene in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre where a beautiful girl is being killed, and I was thinking 'She's too pretty to die.' That's where it evolved from. But, I thought it would be interesting to write it from the perspective of the killer."
Suzi Kory is an original to say the least, dreams of making it in music intact, thick skin and balls of steel packed for the journey ahead. Hot off an opening gigs for LA Guns during their Toronto stop and in LA at The Whisky a Go-Go on the current reunion tour, look out for Suzi’s upcoming singles produced by Brent Woods (Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, Tom Waits) to be released in the coming weeks!
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