Elise Trouw / Jillian Dawn
Elise Trouw
Image courtesy of the artist
![Jillian Dawn](https://www.berklee.edu/sites/default/files/styles/scale_to_480px_width/public/2023-01/Jillian%20Dawn.jpg?fv=wBCfDuU0&itok=T9r2XVJG)
Jillian Dawn
Image courtesy of the artist
Elise Trouw was born to a South African father and a mother from New York in the very last year of the millennium. She was raised on the Carpenters, Green Day, and ’80s new wave. Her musical inspiration first occurred at 6 years old, when she heard the haunting piano melody in “My Immortal” by Evanescence and played it repeatedly throughout a five-hour plane ride. Trouw immediately begged her parents for piano lessons and her musical journey began, usually practicing at 5 a.m. before school each day, much to her parents’ dismay.
Life changed when her family bought the game Rockband for Xbox. After mastering the drums to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Dani California” on expert mode, Trouw convinced her parents that she now needed drum lessons. Honing her musical skills through The School of Rock and playing in her high school jazz band—and the hard work of 10,000+ hours of practicing—Trouw has built a massive fanbase through her self-produced YouTube videos, social media platforms, and touring both as a solo looping artist and with her band. She has performed on The Jimmy Kimmel Show and was commissioned to shoot a video for the Amazon Prime Academy Award-nominated film The Sound of Metal.
Recently, Trouw had the honor of filling in on drums for Seal at one of his shows and co-writing with Andy Summers from the Police, singer-songwriter Finneas, and Songwriter Hall of Fame member Steve Dorff.
Jillian Dawn is a 24-year-old indie pop singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Rising from Mansfield, Massachusetts, she now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where her style has evolved into dance-driven indie-pop with flares of country and rock. Currently working alongside Nashville’s brightest talent, Dawn recently kickstarted a new chapter with the late-summer pop anthem, “Watered Down,” and her debut as an original cast member of She Believed She Could, a Nashville-based musical revue. Since her graduation from University of Miami Frost School of Music, Dawn has toured with headlining acts, hitting festival stages around the country, all while preparing for her next musical project due this year.