Tyrone woman overcomes shyness with shining music career

JESSICA O’Neill is a singer-songwriter from Ardboe, who cites some of her biggest influences as Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan and Taylor Swift.

For the past couple of years, she has solidified herself as one of the most promising young and upcoming talents in the local music scene.

Speaking of how her interest in music developed from an early age, the Tyrone singer said, “Years ago, my dad moved to New York when he was 18. He lived there for a few years, and when he moved back home he brought a guitar with him.

“That guitar sat in our house for as long as I can remember, so I decided to pick it up when I was about 10-years-old, and from there, dad taught me a few bits and pieces and helped me get started.

“From there, I self-taught myself using YouTube videos as guidance.”

Jessica recalls the first song she learned on guitar as ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii, having previously learned it on the tin whistle.

“Throughout secondary school I did singing lessons and managed to achieve my grade six,” said the 21-year-old.

“One of the first times I recall performing on stage was in Belfast, where I took part in a production that showcased songs from the musicals, so I performed as Anna from Frozen with a rendition of the song ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’.”

Having continued her singing lessons until fourth year in secondary school, Jessica admits that her musical ambitions took a bit of a back seat for a while due to the fact that she was too shy to perform in front of people.

“I concentrated on my A-Levels and went on to study Art for a year at university, however, my boyfriend who I have been with for six years was the one who inspired me to get back into music.

“He had never heard me play or sing before until, one night, I picked up the guitar and started playing for him.

“He couldn’t believe it, and asked me why I wouldn’t get out there and start performing in public, so with a little bit of convincing I thought I would give it a shot.”

Since March last year, Jessica has become a regular songbird in venues all over the country, performing regularly in Cookstown, Moy, Derry, and Belfast.

“I try to sing a little bit of everything,” she explained.

“I do a lot of contemporary chart stuff, but I’m fond of some of the older stuff such as ABBA, and a lot of the old Irish traditional songs.”

To date, Jessica has written and released one single, with plenty more on the horizon.

“My first single was released in March and is currently available on Spotify.

“It’s called ‘Little Rituals’, and is a song I wrote about my own personal experiences getting out there with my music.”

Jessica is currently working on seven new tracks which she hopes to release as a mini album in the near future.

To keep up to date with Jessica’s promising and blossoming music career, you can do so by following her on social media by searching ‘Jessica O’Neill Music’.