Derek Jameson is Fulfilling His Destiny

Performer Derek Jameson is no stranger to Pride stages and most recently headlining a day full of LGBTQ fellowship and entertainment at a local county fair. Derek’s music reaches beyond our community, however, with themes and textures that sample from many different musical genres.

Hailing from San Jose, he started performing and writing his own music at a very early age, hitting the professional circuit at age 15 at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara. Music and dance have always been in his blood, inspired early on by Tori Amos.

I was a very depressed 8th grader at the time, and I happened to turn on MTV Unplugged and it was Tori Amos who was playing a set. The moment she started I heard, “This is what you have to do.” From then on, I started learning how to play, write songs, and sing my own material.

Derek has also written for producer/DJs Morgan Page, Bijou, Matroda, and Kaleena Zanders, collaborating with songwriter to the stars, Jessica Hoover, and producer Trent Park. As a performer, he has traveled the world, including a tour in Asia. He also took the stage as the opening act for Darren Criss and Danity Kane. Even with collaborations, Derek’s sound and style are instantly recognizable. What sets Derek apart from other musicians?

I believe we are all channels of energy. When I write or play, it is a conscious and deliberate transmission from higher light. I know that I am channeling energy that enlivens healing within a listener. It isn’t me healing them, it is them giving themselves permission to heal themselves. I may discuss darkness in my material, but it never comes without the light. They must always come together.

I could have taken more traditional routes of propelling my career, but those opportunities never felt right to me. Even when I was signed to a label and worked with a producing team, it never worked out well. They always seemed to come at a self-sacrificing price. I wasn’t willing to polarize away from who I am. Then I would not be fulfilling my destiny. 

Part of being true to himself, was his decision to be an openly queer artist, no matter how it may have affected his career. That decision to did come easy.

When I was young, I didn’t want to be known as a queer artist because of two reasons. One, I didn’t want to limit my scope of connection between my music and the listener.  And two, I was bullied since I was a kid. I was ingrained in shame of who I was. I ran away from the part of me that I was meant to be. I was resistant to having that label. I was still identifying with the ego aspect of myself that held me back from my own potential power. That said, I was never afraid of people knowing I was gay and playing in all the gay clubs and LA Pride mainstage. I just didn’t want the straight community to think that this music wasn’t about them too. We are all one unified community. My music is very much a part of them as it is me regardless of sexual preference. Now, I am proud to be a queer artist. It was all a part of my journey as a human being evolving to greater states of empowerment.

Being a queer artist means being a leader for others who are coming up. It means paving the path for healing that divides humanity.  Being a queer artist gives young ones coming up, permission to be themselves and use their authentic voice to bring power and love to this planet.

Derek won the best pop category at the New York Independent Music and Film Festival and has been nominated for his music in the independent film circuit and has been featured in both film and television projects. His creative process begins the moment an idea hits his ear.

I typically hear a melody in meditation or in the middle of the night. I hum the melody into my phone. Then get the piano and start building from that small frequency of sound I was given. I usually let the words come without forcing them. Then they are just words without complete intention.  I hit the digital workstation and start painting the sounds and see what comes out. I never know the full sound. I let the sound create in the moment.

If you’ve ever seen him perform live, he is as electric while he is dancing and singing to a high-energy track, or if he is simply by himself, with a mic and keyboard, entrancing you with his voice. The audience becomes part of the experience.

The live performance isn’t all about me. That’s the best part. It’s about the conversation between me AND the listener. My songs carry a certain frequency. If you are there with me in the moment of a performance, then the transmission of its energy and message is for you. It’s nothing without you.  The tender piano vocal moments allow us to dig into the cellular level where our magic lives.  Watching people connect with me in such intimacy is awesome.

Derek Jameson Photo by Baz Here

Derek Jameson Photo by Luis Lucas

Derek Jameson Photo by Jessica Czamecki

Derek Jameson Photo by Tiensirin Tienngern

Derek is constantly evolving. His music all carries the same intense through line, but as he has learned more about the industry and cut his teeth, his music, too, has evolved.

When I started, my music was about pulling out the pain I was storing within me. It was a way to communicate when I didn’t feel like I could.  Now, I don’t need that to channel my pain and fear. I use music to celebrate love and the greater awareness of our existence. It is more conscious. I know what I am channeling through me now and where to conduct it.

And how has Derek personally changed from his time in the business?

I trust myself more. At first, I never trusted myself and therefore couldn’t trust others. I didn’t believe in myself.  Others believe in us more than we believe in ourselves.  I made an agreement to trust myself and listen to myself. That inner knowing and development are what evolve us into more authenticity where a true connection with others can be experienced. A place of safety first begins with us and that is how all of our other relationships can ground.

I am never afraid of placing myself front and center.  Fear attracts fear. I was in Egypt on 9/11 and Morocco the next year. I tend to jump into the fires. [laughs] If I go up on a stage knowing very well that my music is one of many bridges to healing the disconnection we experience between each other, then I have no fear that what I am here to carry out will do just that.  In fact, I have many straight males who believe in me and what I’m doing more than those in the gay community.  I believe there is healing on all levels in that one.

With a large library of original music, which of his songs represents who he is currently?

My latest song “Forever You” is where I am presently. Just in a space of love and appreciation. Life changes so fast and in an instant. Things are changing on the surface, but underneath it ALL there is absolute love and everything else is just an aspect expression of that.  This song is about that undying love that we carry through lifetimes, realities, and dimensions.

As if the music wasn’t spiritual enough, Derek also works with countless people in spiritual development as a Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique practitioner who uses past life regression work to help his clients. He’s worked with Hollywood celebrities from HBO’s Euphoria, Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, The Big Bang Theory, and many more as a celebrity regressionist and Tarot reader. He has been featured in People Magazine, Thrive Global, and Wealth Insider for his work. How did he first get into the spiritual world?

I started reading Tarot when I was a teenager for a Halloween event.  I had to stop, though, because I was attracting a lot of dark spirits when doing readings.  I was too young to know responsibility.  Years later I was playing music for Kaleena Zanders in Dallas, Texas, and the spirits started to reconnect with me and told me it was time to go back into it. So, the moment I said I was ready was when it all flooded in. It was like a boot camp…hard and heavy. The light prepared me and guided me to do past life regression for people. I studied QHHT which is Dolores Canon’s method.  I have been doing that for years now.  I also lead groups in past life meditations. It’s so beautiful and mind-blowing.

According to Derek, working with a spiritual coach can help with breaking cycles and patterns, taking power back, interpreting dreams, curbing anxiety, finding life’s purpose, and even health and fitness.

Spiritual coaching allows people to reveal their true selves. It helps them take the power back that they gave away at one point.  It grounds trust and self-love. People turn away from the spiritual world, but what they are really turning away from is themselves. The part of them asking them to activate and evolve.  I help people as they are awakening these levels of consciousness.  Not only does it serve them, but it literally positively affects everyone in their lives, their past lives, and their ancestral line.  Everything is consciousness. I help people remember that inner knowing.

Derek’s spiritual and musical worlds are one and the same, both working in tandem to make Jameson a success in both realms.

As a channel for spirit, when I write or perform, I am channeling higher light through me so that everyone is receiving a frequency of light that will activate them. This can happen through words, sound, or even just movement. Artists are all channels. Many of them just don’t realize it. Some of them are channeling darkness and some light and most are channeling both simultaneously. Everyone’s consciousness will allow them to see what they are ready for.

What is Derek’s message to the community?

Celebrate your existence. It is an absolute blessing to be a part of the human experience. Celebrate being here. Celebrate all aspects of you. There is a reason why you are here now.

You can follow Derek:

IG: @DerekJameson * Music: DerekJamesonMusic.com * Spiritual Work: WonderfulLightBoyd.com