Singer Storm Large gave vivacious performances with her huge, passionate voice
Minutes before being voted off Rock Star: Supernova last night, Storm Large dedicated her final performance, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here to her mother. Her heartfelt rendition made guitarist Jason Newsted tear up.
Storm has been the epitome of elegance and funk through the competition. In June, I sat down with the performer in the sumptuous Silver Lake mansion that houses all the competitors. She was warm, funny, and open.
The youngest of three children, Storm was born in Massachusetts in 1969. Her father was an ex-Marine turned history teacher. Her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia before Storm was born.
"She was always in the hospital. She was always trying to kill herself," Storm recalled. Her father, a loving man, struggled to raise Storm and her two older brothers while his wife deteriorated.
"It was really traumatic when I was little but as I started to grow ... and pull away from that, it made me really strong." When I asked her what gave her strength, she said: "The fact that I didn't ever die. The fact that I felt like dying a bunch...but never ever did it because I saw her [mother] try to take her life so many times."
At five years old, Storm could sing, pick out harmonies and make up lyrics. In her teens, she became restless and bellious and, by 14, sported a mohawk, thick black eyeliner, and had multiple body piercings.
In 1989 Storm put her restless energy to work and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. In 1991 she moved to San Francisco and started her first band, Flower SF. In 1998 she created Storm, Inc., a heavier pop band but the group split. In 2002, she moved to Oregon and formed another band, The Balls, who quickly became favourites of the lounge circuit.
Vocally, Storm may have been no match for Dilana Robichaux, but she had emotion and charisma in spades and the audience embraced her. She consistently showed genuine compassion to the other singers. She was also born to perform.
"I've been a successful musician for the last five years," Storm said. "I sing three hours a night four or five nights a week. I'm my own manager, my own booking agent, my own driver, my own doctor.
"Whether I win or lose it's going to push me to the next level."
As last night's episode of Rock Star: Supernova ended, Storm took a bow and Dave Navarro told her that he'd happily play on her tune Ladylike. She wrote the song and sung it during her audition along with Helter Skelter by The Beatles. She rocked both tunes.
