Misstress Barbara (Iturnem/Border Community)

She’s a licensed pilot with a degree in communication studies, a passion for interior design and an unfulfilled childhood dream of becoming an actress. If she’s not riding her Ducati Monster 620 Dark motorcycle, snowboarding, shopping for designer clothing, or playing videogames, she can be found spinning her jazz/latino/electro-funk inspired techno beats at a jam-packed nightclub in a cosmopolitan city somewhere around the globe.

She’s known internationally in the music industry as Misstress Barbara, an alias she concocted for herself by combining the words ‘miss’ with ‘stress’.

Born in 1975, this Sicilian-turned-Montrealer always knew she had a knack for producing evocative and innovative music. Growing up with a cultured musical palate that included salsa, bossa nova, foho, latino, pop and rock, Misstress Barbara fused her sharp melodic instincts with influences from these diverse genres and channeled the product into the electronic medium. Although notorious for her consistently “hard” beats, her music has evolved stylistically from a self-described “drummy funky pumpin’ techno” vibe to one which she feels is more “groovy, techy and minimal”. The flavor of Misstress Barbara’s craft, however, is in perpetual motion as she continually pushes her own artistic boundaries in search of the next unique sound.

Kicking off her music career at age 12 as a drummer in local bands, Misstress Barbara immediately became absorbed by classic rock, punk and hard music. In 1994, her discovery of the electronic music scene prompted her to toss her drumsticks, buy 2 turntables and a mixer and learn the art of DJing. In 1996, she scored her first booking and hasn’t looked back since. Over the years, Misstress Barbara has worked with several internationally acclaimed musicians, DJ’s, and record labels, has created her own label called “ITURNEM”, and has licensed her music to the videogame and film industries.

Consistent with the metamorphosis of her music, Misstress Barbara continues to challenge herself professionally by seeking out new vehicles for her music. In this vein, she recently started producing original tracks for vocalists as well as remixes for rock acts. Don’t be surprised if she pops up on the big screen or on stage again banging out on a set of drums. Stay tuned and expect the unexpected from Misstress Barbara.