Junior Joanna DeRosa has been quite busy this past year between being a full time communications student, professional cheerleading, and now she’s the front woman for the band Six Stories Told.
Six Stories Told is a power pop band based out of Walden, New York, who in the past year has had an incredible amount of success opening for bands like The Naked Brothers Band, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and the recently revived Aaron Carter.
DeRosa grew up in a musical household with her mother being in a rock band, where her and her husband would eventually meet. Her sister Samantha, who attended Pace for two years, is also an accomplished songwriter and now attends the Berkeley College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother was also Joanna’s long-time vocal coach and created a ‘family band’ consisting of her sister and herself.
“I’ve been competing in singing competitions since I was six and I’ve won some national competitions also,” DeRosa said.
Besides having the opportunity to open for such notable names, the band has also played dozens of other shows throughout the tri-state area at well-known venues like Webster Hall, The Chance, and The Revolution.
“We sometimes play up to four shows a week and at least one a day, I think we’ve played around 50 shows. I lost track after about 30,” DeRosa said.
Outside of her hectic schedule with the band, DeRosa also dances for the Gotham City Cheerleaders, the first pro dance team to cheer on behalf of the New York Giants.
“I’m taking 17 credits right now, balancing rehearsal twice a week with the team, band practice once a week, playing shows and I’m trying to maintain a social life, but it’s tough, I feel like a ghost sometimes, but the way I see it is that I don’t want to have any wasted days, I want every day to get me one step closer to my ultimate goals,” DeRosa said.
Six Stories Told were recently added to the daily rotation of songs on the radio station Fox 103.1, which makes them the first band in 70 years to be played on the station that isn’t signed to a major label.
DeRosa and Six Stories Told are just getting started, and with a band mainly consisting of musicians under the age of 20, there’s plenty of room to grow.
“We’re going to a film a music video for our song ‘Round and Round’ in the coming weeks and we’re recording our EP right now so we’re trying to put it all together for a press package to send to labels,” DeRosa said.
In the world of pop music artists tend to become jaded or considered ‘sell outs’ because they change their music against their will just to reach a certain level of fame, but DeRosa is staying humble and making sure the music comes first.
“‘Making it’ isn’t what everyone says it is like getting a Grammy or selling out the biggest venues, making it to me is just to be able to have ten people know your songs, have the songs change their lives or even just make their day better, or make the people think differently,” DeRosa said.
Six Stories Told will be playing at The Loft in Poughkeepsie, New York on Nov. 23, contact them via Facebook or through Joanna DeRosa for tickets and information.