AS the lights are dimmed and the curtains drawn, a powerful voice emanates from the speakers. The audience is enthralled, but, as there is no one on stage, everyone looks around, eager to see the source of the singing. After a few seconds, whispers confirm what some have suspected — that perhaps it is a Whitney Houston or Jennifer Hudson soundtrack. That’s until 26-year-old singing sensation Akeliah Vassell reveals herself.

As she saunters through the crowd and makes her way onstage, one cannot help being drawn to her charismatic and energetic performance. Fortunately, for guests of Beaches Negril Resort and Spa, the stage is not the only place they get to experience this wonder, as Vassell, also known as ‘the singing waitress’, takes her performances into the dining room where she carries out her main duties.

While she is known for her unique and powerful voice, Vassell is even more loved for her down-to-earth and fun-loving personality. She interacts very comfortably with guests of the resort and often churns out tune after tune for them while they enjoy their meals. The various song selections from Vassell add just the right Jamaican flavour and are enough to satiate the guests’ musical palates, guaranteeing them the time of their lives while they dine.

Food and Beverage Director Craig Leslie describes Vassell as humble, competent and dependable.

“She always gets the job done well and also has an ‘on-the-spot’ charm about her.”

Vassell reveals that even though she works in the restaurant/hospitality industry, singing is her first love — an affair sparked in her younger years by the British pop girl group The Spice Girls.

“When I was in primary school, my best friend got a Spice Girls CD and we used to practise the songs on it every day.”

She says Whitney Houston also greatly inspired her.

During her high school days, she participated in music and drama and was very active in the school choir, singing at school events, devotions and other functions.

After leaving high school, Vassell went to HEART Trust/NTA where she studied food and nutrition, and started training to become an executive chef. This, according to her, was not a matter of choice: “My mother said I needed to find something to do”. She was sent to Merrill’s Beach Resort on the HEART Trust/NTA training programme, where she was required to do four weeks of training — two weeks in the restaurant and the other two in the kitchen. However, given her excellent performance during the first two weeks, she was asked to continue working in the restaurant as a waitress and did so for another six years.

In 2010, she moved to Beaches Negril where she worked in the same capacity, until she was promoted to dining room supervisor in May 2013.

Since being promoted, Vassell noted that she has become more mature and responsible and feels that she is up to the challenge, particularly given the support and encouragement she has been receiving from managers, supervisors and other colleagues.

“The experience at Beaches has been great, especially since I can go beyond my immediate job function and do what I really love — performing.”

In addition to singing at the restaurants, she also gets the opportunity to perform at the resort’s weekly talent show and other guest events. In 2013, Vassell was also a contestant in the Sandals talent competition Encore, where she advanced to the national level.

It was then that Sandals Resorts International entertainment executives recognised her musical ability and recommended her for the recently introduced Saturday night show Burlesque, at sister property Sandals Negril. “The Burlesque experience has been going well and has helped me to better hone my voice. It also gives me something to look forward to each week as it builds my self-confidence.”

She was also requested to perform at the Sandals Ultimate Awards, an annual staff awards ceremony. She admits that she always gets nervous when she is onstage but has a strategy that she uses to control her nerves. “I pray and remind myself that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

This experience goes a long way in preparing her for her ultimate career goal of doing theatre full time and getting the opportunity to sing, dance and act to her heart’s content. She hopes one day she will be able to make it to as far as Broadway and also hopes to star in one of Tyler Perry’s plays, as she is a big fan of the American actor/director/playwright, also known as Madea. In the meantime, she continues to write her own plays, songs and poems.

With a very demanding work schedule, especially in her new capacity, Vassell admits that it is not easy for her to balance work and her singing.

“It can be very tiring but I have a passion for both. I get to meet and interact with new people and when I perform, I get to live out my dream of being onstage, so I work hard at doing both.”