Janifer was singing along to and improvising on songs playing on the radio even before she could speak properly. She also had a knack for taking some of those very songs and replacing the lyrics with her own. "Or I would see song lyrics in magazines like “Song Hits”, “Billboard” or “Rolling Stone”, and if I didn’t know the melody, I would create my own."

As a youngster, Janifer got into the habit of sitting at her family’s home piano and picking out chords to a variety of songs by ear. At age 10 she was offered formal piano lessons – which she took for about two weeks, then gave up after becoming bored with having to practice scales everyday! For years afterward she continued playing by ear and writing songs. She wrote the lyrics to both her junior high and high school graduation class songs, and in her senior year was voted “Best Musician – Female”.

From 1989-1991, Janifer was the keyboardist and musical director for a local band formed by her brother, a saxophonist. The band, which specialized in smooth jazz and easy-listening music, made many unsuccessful attempts to find a permanent lead singer, so she eventually took on that role as well.

The year was 1995 when Janifer decided to produce one of her own songs – “ha”! Not having access to a professional recording studio, she decided to improvise, using her Korg M1, TR-505 drum machine and her sister’s bedroom closet! This marked the beginning of the “closet studio” concept. As for the home-recorded song … well, it actually earned her a Billboard Songwriting Contest Award!

A multi-genre songwriter first and foremost, Janifer expresses, “I love writing songs; if I can touch and inspire at least one soul with my music, then I’m doing my job!”

GENRES: Healing/Easy Listening – Pop NuJazz – R&B/Soul – Rock – Folk HipHop – Reggae – Calypso – Latin