Jess Kavanagh

Jess Kav is a songwriter, writer, poet and vocalist.  Raised by an Irish-Nigerian mother and Soul enthusiast, Jess grew up on a musical diet of Motown, Jazz and Irish Indie. After studying at London’s Institute Of Contemporary Music Performance and Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Jess focused on writing, performance and social change.

Jess has toured worldwide with The Waterboys as a backing vocalist.  She has also worked with other top Irish and international artists including Hozier, Villagers, Kodaline, The Commitments, Jape and Le Galaxie.  In terms of her own songs, she has released music with BARQ whose lyrical content and narratives focus on self- development, identity and social commentary.  Last year, Jess worked with new music collaborative project, Sister Fenix, writing and releasing new work recorded with the RTE Concert Orchestra and working with The Abbey Theatre. 

During the pandemic, Jess has been working with The Irish Times Magazine as a feature writer, and as a contributor to RTE’s Arena.  She has also worked with mental health festival ‘First Fortnight’ as a creative contributor and has curated a zine called ‘ReFlex’ a creative collaboration prioritising Black and POC expression.  She recently spoke on Panti Bliss’ award winning podcast Pantisocracy and spoke with adoption rights activist Noelle Browne for The London Irish Centre’s ‘Imbolc’ event.  In Jan 2021, Jess was a guest on acclaimed series ‘The Tommy Tiernan Show’, talking candidly about sex positivity and polyamory. In the same month Jess was profiled in The New York Times, discussing her creativity and the importance of racial activism in Ireland. The piece was written by Caelainn Hogan (journalist and author of culture-altering book Republic Of Shame) who Jess went on to collaborate with in Spring 2021.