When she was just age 7, Jamie McDell’s father left a high paying job at an elite Auckland law firm to shift her mother, younger sister and Jamie onto the high seas and began living aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean. It’s here Jamie wrote her first song, a sea shanty to the dolphins. Also on that yacht lived a small collection of her parents’ favourite cassette tapes, which luckily included albums by Jimmy Buffett, John Denver and James Taylor. The young artist quickly formed a particularly strong bond with these records and she fondly remembers watching her parents perform Buffett duets - and occasionally chiming in, learning how to harmonise with her mother and sister. An eager learner, Jamie then picked up the guitar after studying her fathers’ John Denver chord book collection and has never looked back.
Now at age 30, New Zealand singer/songwriter Jamie McDell has achieved a prolific amount in her formative years. Being signed to EMI at age 16 sparked the beginning of a successful musical journey, making her a household name across the nation. With the release of her debut album Six Strings and a Sailboat, she went on to achieve Gold album sales, receive three NZ Music Award nominations, winning Best Pop Album of 2013. Then her sophomore record Ask Me Anything gained global attention, seeing album track Moon Shines Red featured on American TV series 'Pretty Little Liars'.
Jamie McDell first debuted in the Official New Zealand Top 40 Singles on 2 April 2012 with the song You'll Never Take That Away. There are six entries by Jamie McDell in the charts.