About SanGia
SanGia consists of Genia (18) and Sandra Melbourne (19) from Guelph, Ontario Canada. Our Soul Rock repertoire is written and produced by our father (Howard) Sandra, Genia and other collaboration such as Dan Hill, Dave Martin and John Capek.
From the day we were born we were always on the road living in the hotels and resorts that our parents were performing in. Being musician’s kids, you’d be lucky if you can hold on to a childhood friend since you were constantly traveling. But our parents took care of that by keeping us busy with schoolwork, music lessons, and karate in which we are both black belts, and have won many trophies at competitions.
During the mid ‘90s our parents under the band name, M2P, were signed to a recording contract, playing steady gigs and lighting up the dance charts with hits such as “Before The Next Teardrop Falls”, “Do Ya Love Me” and “Just The way you Like It.” “Do You Love Me” was also in Rodney Dangerfield’s latest movie “My Five wives”.
While watching from the side of the stage as our parents performed, we developed a genuine love for music and a strong desire to follow in their footsteps.
At the age of 4, Genia began studying the violin while Sandra started to sing. Later on we began performing solos at festivals. By the age of seven Genia became one of the youngest members to join her town’s youth orchestra.
We made a lot of sacrifices in order to achieve our musical dream, including not being able to hang with friends like normal kids. Even though we were in the public school system for a while, we were home-schooled all year round. There was no space in our lives for relationships, and we spent hours each day rehearsing our act, with music being our only focus, aside from our academic goals.
At the ages of 11 and 12 our musical career had officially begun.
In Oct. 1999, British-based Peace Child International selected us to attend the Millennium Young People's Congress in Hawaii along with 1,000 other international delegates. During the event, televised internationally by the Millennium Television Network, we performed our award-winning song “Where Has It Gone.”
Following this, we were finalist in the Walt Disney Millennium Dreamers Contest and we were awarded a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida along with 2,000 other international winners. This achievement coincided with making it to the semifinals for a Youth Television (YTV) Achievement Award that honors achievements and talents of Canadians.
One year into our music career, we received interest from Major record labels and eventually we became the first unsigned band to perform at the 2000 Juno Awards at the ages of 12 and 13. Shortly after, we signed a development deal with EMI, and our parents thought it would be best to home-school us from grade 8 and all through secondary school in order for us to have more time to perfect our act.
During this time we entered contests and performed wherever we could. Such as Senior Centers, benefit concerts, schools, The Guelph Arts Festival where one year our performance was aired on Rogers Television in Kitchener, the Guelph Dance Festival, the CH TV Mother’s Day Telethon, London Ontario’s Black History Month Concert, the Children’s Milk Festival at the Harbour Front in Toronto etc. Towards the end of our secondary years of education, our focus turned completely to an academic career, as our musical goals were placed on the back burner, putting the vision of a 9 to 5 job in its place.
During our search for a non-music related profession, we realized that music was our core. Our hearts were not willing to accept any other occupation without music accompanying us and we started our training once again.
With our parents also being a cover band, singing a plethora of genres from jazz to rock to R&B, we too have inherited the love for all genres. This fact is showcased in our music. We believe that all ages should be able to enjoy music, and that parents should not have to worry about what their children are listening to.
Apart from us focusing on our musical career, we feel it’s a shame that so many schools have taken out their music programs. We enjoy giving people who love to sing, an opportunity to record in our studio, and then provide a venue for them to perform. By doing this, we feel great knowing that we are helping others fulfill their musical dreams.