When it comes to up-and-coming dance music stars, it can sometimes appear that there is little variation from the stereotype: a pasty-white, twenty-something male from a large, European city steeped in club culture, long on computer skills but perhaps a bit short on exposure to sunlight. But while there may be a fair few individuals who fall into this category, there’s most certainly one maker of dance beats who, despite being one of the hottest properties in underground circles these days, fits exactly zero of these categories. That person is Jennifer Rene. Tipped by none other than World #1 DJ Armin Van Buuren as the breakthrough DJ of 2008, Jennifer Rene is none of what most have come to expect when they think of underground dance music stars-in-the-making. In almost every conceivable way, she’s doing things her way – and she’s taken some time out of her busy European tour to share with us just how it’s all come about.

“In high school they always asked me, ‘so Jennifer, what do you want to do when you grow up?’, and I never had an honest answer,” she begins. “Truthfully, I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I knew I loved music.” As Jennifer explains it, high school and college were challenging, because her heart wasn’t in it. “I just had this feeling it wasn’t where I was supposed to be at that moment,” she recalls. “Something was calling me to try something else.”

From there, it was a process of self-discovery – a journey to discover who she really was. The answer, as anyone who’s been within a city block of the progressive house or trance communities during the past two years will tell you, was that Jennifer was destined to be a musician. “I’m just music,” she says simply. “Wholeheartedly, inside and out. That’s all there ever will be and that’s all there ever was. I was put on this earth to make music.”

But while Jennifer’s conscious arrival as a musician may have been a recent event, her passion for music has been lifelong. “I recall dancing and singing in my dad’s garage to Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ album and Paula Abdul’s ‘Forever Your Girl’ when I was pretty young,” she says. “I always loved Mariah Carey too. Truth be told, I still listen to those albums and artists today!”

Jennifer’s name first exploded into the consciousness of the international dance music community with “Louder”, a collaboration with industry veteran Jose Amnesia that was featured prominently on compilations by Armin Van Buuren and Markus Schulz. As Jennifer explains it, the vocals for the track were originally recorded on a $10 microphone on her new home PC and sent to a friend to demonstrate the type of material she was working on. “I really forget which month it was, but I think it was the beginning of spring in 2006,” she recalls. “About two months later I got the demo back and was floored! I drove around for hours that night up and down the highway listening to it. A few days later I was volunteering at a Pet Shop for homeless kitties when suddenly I got a text message. I read that Armin van Buuren had heard a sample of ‘Louder’ and wanted to sign it. In fact I think he was playing in Washington DC that night or somewhere and had told that person he was going to play it. Test it out. I screamed and dropped the kitty I was holding!”

Since then, Armin Van Buuren has been an enthusiastic champion of Jennifer’s work, signing her to his industry-shaping Armada imprint, and featuring her music extensively in his sets, compilation CDs and concert DVDs.” Armin has been very supportive of me from the very beginning,” Jennifer recalls. “All of my songs (with the exception of “Fall To Pieces”, due to Jonas Steur being on Tiësto’s label Black Hole) are signed to Armada. I’m very, very thankful to be supported by such a great label and DJ.”

As is the case with many dance music producers, Jennifer also performs live.  But unlike most dance music producers, who merely play records for people while on tour, Jennifer's show is unique, in that she not only DJs, but sings live vocals as well. “Sometimes when I DJ I will play the instrumental version of a track of mine and sing over it,” she explains of her approach to combining the two disciplines. “I continue to mix in and out of the track and pick up the mic when its time to sing the vocals. There are several instrumental tracks that aren’t mine that I write vocals over and might someday try them out live. It just depends on the sound quality of the club I’m at, at that time. Also, there are times when I can take vocals of songs of mine that people already know and sing them over instrumental tracks that aren’t mine like singing bits of my ‘Fall To Pieces’ over Armin’s ‘Zocalo’, for example.”

While Jennifer has only been DJing and performing as a professional musician for a few years, she believes very firmly that musicians are born, and not made, and that DJing is ultimately about selecting and presenting music – something that she’s been doing all her life. “Music is a spiritual thing,” she explains. “It’s about connecting with other human beings and sharing a truly emotional experience. When I was younger, I was always calling ‘shotgun!’ – calling the front seat – when my friends and I would drive in the car, because I that meant that I would hold the CD case and choose music to play for the entire car ride. I always used to make mixed tapes when I was younger. I was a DJ before I even know what a DJ was.”

Jennifer Rene’s first ever Calgary appearance is at Tantra this Sunday, May 11th.