Hudson High School alum carves out name in Metro Detroit jazz scene

by Charles Cassady

The distinctive, copper-colored Bop Stop concert club on Cleveland’s near westside lakefront is a destination for jazz lovers. This summer’s Bop Stop calendar features a rising vocalist with noteworthy Hudson vibes, Olivia Van Goor.

A full-time musical artist – teaching and coaching as well as performing – Van Goor has enjoyed radio airplay plus online exposure via Spotify and YouTube. She released two recordings “When The Shadows Fall” in 2021 and “Don’t Be Mad At Me” in 2023.

“I was born in Grand Rapids, but my family moved to Hudson when I was 4 years old,” said Van Goor, now in Royal Oak, Michigan. “I grew up in a colonial-style home near 91 and Middleton Road, and it was such a wonderful childhood. I attended Hudson schools my entire childhood and graduated from Hudson High School in 2015. My family moved back to Michigan in 2018, while I was attending college near Columbus at Denison University.”

Her recent local shows have included a Valentines Day repertoire of romantic jazz and swing she performed to a sellout audience at the Bop Stop in February.

“My favorite jazz vocalists are too many to name, but the first that comes to mind is Sarah Vaughan,” Van Goor said. “Closely following are Anita O’Day, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Lorez Alexandria, Nat King Cole, to name a few. …There are also so many singers alive today that inspire me, like Vanessa Rubin, Jazzmeia Horn, Caity Gyorgy and Samara Joy.”

Van Goor said she was introduced to music by way of “Suzuki-style” piano lessons at a young age and “loved the meditative practice of learning an instrument and achieving goals.” By middle school, she was running home to learn the pop songs her choir class was practicing, such as “True Colors” and “Don’t Stop Believing,”

“I would pretend to accidentally put my choir music in my backpack, so I could take it home and read the accompaniment parts,” she admitted.

Being her own private accompanist sharpened young Van Goor’s grasp of pitch and harmony. At Hudson High, she earned a spot on the swing choir and the part of Muzzy Van Hossmere in the school’s production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” a Broadway classic with a jazz-age backdrop. In the latter, Van Goor helped her actor classmates sharpen their singing chops, while they assisted her with the acting.

By senior year, she was singing with one of the jazz bands under Hudson Schools music instructor John Burrington.

“I will be forever grateful for the experience, mostly because of the core three tunes they gave me, ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street,’ ‘The Nearness of You,’ and a tune I recorded on my recent album, ‘God Bless the Child,’” she said.  “Thank you, Mr. Burrington!”

Even during her music studies at Denison, however, Van Goor said she was unsure where to take her career.

“While I always wanted to sing jazz music, I was having imposter syndrome again. I was scared and honestly embarrassed to admit that I had missed my chance. It’s also difficult when you spend the first two years establishing this nonchalance regarding music, then when you start to want to take it seriously, you’ve already given this attitude that you’re not that serious about it,” she explained. “Sometimes I tell people I just wasn’t ‘hip’ yet.”

Van Goor credits the Metro-Detroit Summer Jazz Workshop, which she attended her after her junior year of college, and its musician-educators Scott Gwinnell, April Tini and Ellie Martin for making her much more comfortable with singing jazz. She said her Denison teachers could tell a difference when she returned in the fall.

The now “hip” Olivia has serenaded in Chicago, Pittsburgh and, of course, throughout Detroit.

“I have never done the Tri-C Jazz Festival,” she said of Cleveland’s biggest annual jazz event, “but if I was asked, I would absolutely say yes!”

She also gives lessons and advises newcomers on being a self-released recording artist.

Van Goor returns to the Bop Shop on Saturday, July 27, at 7 p.m. For more information visit oliviavangoor.com or visit themusicsettlement.org/bop-stop for tickets. ∞

Photo: Vocalist Olivia Van Goor plans to add to her first two releases with a Cleveland area recording this spring. Photo submitted.