'Banned In America’: Ongoing Immigration Hassles Don't Stop Canadian Based Songstress
JADE From Her Drive To Conquer The U.S.
Despite the Fact That She Is Fighting An Unjust Order By Customs Officials
Preventing Her Entry Into The States For Five Years, The Exotic Beauty Is Set To Release Her U.S. Debut After Major Success North of the Border
‘Banned In America,’ Which Features Powerful Reworkings Of Jade’s Two Smash Canadian Radio Hits, Breaks New Ground In Creating A Compelling Techno-Rock Sound No matter the opinion of one somewhat shortsighted U.S. Customs official, Jade’s not a criminal—she’s just too damn sexy.
The one woman force of nature may be the first artist ever to be Banned in America because she’s exotically beautiful, nothing’s going to stop the Vancouver, Canada-based songstress from sharing her powerful, groundbreaking techno-rock attitude and music with the world. In 2003, Jade’s self-titled debut (released in her adopted country on EMI) scored two major radio hits on Canada’s BDS/AC charts, but listeners to the south will soon be hearing a much edgier, confident artist than the one embraced by her fellow Canadians.
“Lay Me Down,” the explosive, hard edged first single from her debut, will soon be hitting U.S. Hot AC radio, and the eagerly anticipated collection--titled after her ongoing struggles to battle customs officials over an insanely unjust and unfair five-year ban—will be available in stores and on the internet.
It just might be difficult for Jade to schedule a promotional tour to support it. Since Jade moved to Canada to study business administration at the University of Victoria, she visited the U.S. multiple times without a problem. But in June, 2004, when she was heading down to L.A. to do a photo shoot for the new album, customs officials in Vancouver stopped and questioned her about her business in America.
They sent her to the U.S. Embassy to get a new Visa, but she was told she didn’t need one—she had been mistakenly detained for over six hours. Immigration let her get on the plane, and she thought that was the end of it—only the officials didn’t clear her detention from the computer. In September that year, Jade and her producer, veteran British rocker David Bower—needing a break after working so hard on the album--planned a several week vacation down in L.A.
They drove this time, and it was their misfortune to encounter a belligerent customs official at the border near Bellingham, Washington. “He looked up my name, and there was still the record of me being stopped in June,” says Jade. “I told him I was going on vacation and applying for a temporary working visa so that when my album was released in the States, I could go on a promotional tour. Thinking I was trying to enter illegally to work ‘under the table,’ his response was, ‘Girls like you always tell us the same story…and you end up in Vegas in some illicit profession. He searched my car, looking for excuses to further harass me. He discovered a list I had made of furniture that was in my house in Vancouver that I was renting out, and he mistook it for furniture that I was planning to ship to the U.S. “He treated me like I was a criminal,” she adds, with as much wonder as still-simmering anger. “Then he forced me to sign a document saying that I tried to sneak in for work. I refused, and he said I have no rights, that if I don’t sign, I’m going to be arrested. The document said I would be banned from entry for five years. They held me for seven hours. I couldn’t enter the U.S. for five years, and neither could David. Since then, we’ve been applying for a waiver from a judge to override the ban so I can tour in America, and we also have an attorney in Seattle trying to sue immigration for harassment. Everything is now pending.”
Perhaps Jade’s next album will feature songs about her harrowing border experiences, but even without reference to this story, Banned In America is destined to stir the senses of listeners in the country she can’t set foot in. Working with Bower and co-producer Joby Baker, Jade has fashioned a remarkably refreshing new genre of techno rock mixing all of the styles she loves. “Like a lot of new artists eager to record a first album, the songs and production was more about the producers’ vision of what they wanted me to be,” she says. “This time, I conveyed what I wanted, to reflect my love of music.”
Jade, a native of China who attended the prestigious Beijing Film Academy and starred in nine motion pictures and two TV series in her homeland before moving to Canada, is well on her way to achieving her goal to be the first Asian crossover pop rock singer in North America. “I want people to know that Asian singers can do the same things as Latin singers, and mix some of their native influences with their passions for American art forms like rock and soul,” she says. “I’ve always liked to listen to different types of music, and I keep an open mind. Rather than identify a single type of sound that defines me, I prefer to say that I love anything that touches me emotionally. I learned a lot from making my first album, and gained a great deal of confidence in myself, but Banned In America is something unique with a wider range of dynamics that create a vibe people will remember.
“The way I explain my vision to people who haven’t heard my music yet is, ‘I like sweet and sour, the contrast of black and white, right and wrong, and creating dramatic atmospheres that are impossible to forget.’”
