Teenage Musician From Lake Forest Park Living Her Passion for Pop

In many ways, Keira Verlee is a typical teenager who enjoys snowboarding, scuba diving and hanging out with friends.

Of all her interests, however, nothing compares to the 17-year-old Lake Forest Park girl’s love of music. And as a singer and songwriter, Verlee has quickly gaining a following as a talented musician. 

Her interest in music started early for the girl who moved to Lake Forest Park just before high school. “My grandma always told me I was singing before I could talk,” she said.

Verlee’s dad, Guy Fusman, remembers that well.

“She came to me when she was very young and said she wanted to be a performer,” said Fusman, a former record label owner and concert promoter who doubles as her daughter’s band manager. “Actually, she said she wanted to be Baby Spice from the Spice Girls.”

Verlee started her first band, VerleeRose, at age 14 with friend Ellie Rose.  The girls released a CD These Moments—their first—and developed a loyal Puget Sound following.

Last year, the girls decided to move in different direction. Verlee formed the five-piece band Verlee for Ransom. The band releases its debut CD Happy Like Monkey That Climb—watch a video of a song on YouTube—May 20 at Seattle’s Q Café.

Members of the band—which includes Kyle Morrison, Kaye Gill, Nathan Keiffer and Rio Chanae—range in age from 12 to 20. They’ve performed in Ellensburg and the Tri Cities as well as Seattle clubs The Vera Project, El Corazon, EMP’s Sky Church and Cube Café. This month, online rock publication Skope magazine raved about the band’s debut CD.

Their musical influences are broad and include bossa nova, art house rock, pop, indie rock and jazz. Keira says she loves the internationally popular alternative rock bands Radiohead and Metrik.

So how does she find time for her band and studies?

Essentially, she’s arranged her schedule to fit around her music.

After moving to Lake Forest Park, Keira took drama classes and performed musical theater at . But her passion for writing and singing her own music soon moved to the forefront.

Now she’s focused on completing an associate’s degree in music within the next 15 months at , where she’s enrolled in the accelerated Running Start program for high school students.

“Most of my classes are oriented around music,” she said. “It’s stuff I want to learn and stuff I can understand quicker than other subjects.”

As she looks to the future, Verlee sees herself playing music for a long time.

“What I want to do is be able to play music enough throughout my whole life,” she siad, “so I can live life and music and be able to make a living.”

Verlee for Ransom will be performing 2 p.m. June 11 at the Experience Music Project Skychurch in Seattle.