Janet Hammer
Music has always been a huge part of Janet’s life. She first learned many of the jazz vocal standards as a child from her mother who loved to play the piano and sing the music of that era. Her mother also sang Barbershop harmony with Sweet Adelines and directed musicals in the local playhouse. Janet took piano lessons from her aunt and jazz harmony arranging from her high school music teacher, giving her a solid foundation for her future career.Janet is one of the few singers in town who can easily change styles and own all of them. She has sung jazz, big band, contemporary pop, rock, R&B, disco, country, gospel, show tunes, classical, renaissance, Sanskrit, and even Jewish traditional music. She has led many of her own bands and vocal groups.
Janet performs at numerous venues throughout Southern California in duos, small ensembles, with bands and her own bands and groups. One of her most successful performing groups was her very popular Christmas caroling company, The Full Measure Carolers. Since its inception in 1989, it grew from one quartet to over 15 quartets booking an average of 250 gigs during the holiday season.
In 1998 she started a 75-voice choir at the Unity Center and was Music Director from 2001 until 2021 where she booked guest artists, led the choir, and created and led the band, Soul Notes.
Janet holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Secondary Education Music Teaching Credential from San Diego State University. She taught classes in vocal technique and led the vocal jazz ensemble, Spectrum Singers, at Palomar College from 2003 to 2015. She also had a choir program of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in the National City school district as well as a choir at the Braille Institute. Currently, Janet gives vocal workshops and teaches private vocal lessons.
Janet performed in numerous bands in San Diego over the past 40 years including the Mar Dels, the Big Band Jazz Machine, Storey Lines, and The Players, to name a few. She has performed on several worldwide tours performing in 36 countries and has opened for big name acts.
With eleven CDs of her own, she also was the featured vocalist on three Big Band recordings, one of which was nominated for best jazz recording of the year (2019) by San Diego Music. She has also recorded national radio jingles, international children's educational audio books and resources, pinball machine theme songs, video games, and other studio work for many projects.
