Growing up in a musical family that traveled the nation as a show band gave singer Jennifer Grimm a totally different take on life.
As one of four siblings in the Steve Grimm and Colleen Raye Show, Jennifer never really had a hometown. Spending her entire childhood on the road may have steeped her in show business, but it also made her feel like an alien around other kids.
“And that’s what’s wrong with me,” Grimm joked during a phone interview last week ahead of her show with Joe Cruz as past of the next 411 Concert Series show at Northfield Arts Guild Theater.
Grimm and her family toured the lounge, casino, resort and theme park circuit from Las Vegas to Atlantic City until she was a 10th grader at Wazetta High School. That year was an education in “how the rest of the world lives,” she said.
Grimm spent her last two years of high school at the Minnesota Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley, which has been renamed the Perpich Arts High School. “I loved it,” she said. “Of all the places to land as artist, I found one filled with other creatives who were on my wavelength.”
Since she was already performing in Twin Cities clubs with her mother and had put out her first album at age 20, Grimm said she didn’t want to major in music education in college. Instead, she received her degree in mathematics from Augsburg College.
“I find mathematics logical and relaxing,” she said. “It was something to keep in my back pocket.”
When Grimm met her second husband Joe Cruz, she said they may be 20 years different in age but they both shared a love of music and had performance careers of around 40 years. Today, the pair shares the parenting of four children, ages 5-25.
With Cruz singing, playing the loop pedal and guitar, while Grimm handles the vocals, the duo will take the audience through a variety of genres.
“We tell stories in song,” she said. “We can create a large sound using the loop.”
For the Northfield concert, she said they would likely perform some jazz, rhythm and blues, classics everyone can sing along with, as well as their yet-to-be-recorded originals. Some songs will possibly be favorites off of their respective records, “After Noon” and “Pasión” as well as selections off their debut duo album, “I Love You.”
They may even throw in a bit of reggae and some classic country.
The Guild’s performing arts manager Pauline Jennings said nationally acclaimed vocalist Jennifer Grimm and versatile multi-stringed instrumentalist Joe Cruz are a dynamic duo with the “tenderness of Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass and the rhythmic excitement of Tuck and Patti.”
Jennings said Grimm has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, scored hits internationally, written music for Sony Entertainment, NBC, USA, and Showtime.
“You may have heard her on commercials for Target, Caribou Coffee, Office Max, HealthPartners, True Value and many more,” she said. “It’s easy to tell that the stage suits Jennifer as she puts everyone at ease with her charismatic familiarity with the audience.”
Jennings said Cruz is regarded as one of the most versatile and energetic multi-stringed instrumentalists on the national music scene today. He’s played in numerous productions at the Children’s Theatre Company, The Guthrie, Park Square Theatre, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
“We’re excited to be making our first visit to Northfield,” said Grimm.
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