Kiana Madeiros jumped at the chance to sing at Berkeley’s Summer Jazz Jam. An audience of fellow jazz lovers sounded like heaven to the 18-year-old. Not many of her peers share her passion.

“I’ve always loved old music,” said the songwriter, who graduates from the Berkeley Institute today.

“But I really started getting into it five years ago. I love singers like Nina Simone and Luther Vandross. Some of my friends call me old.”

The Berkeley Educational Society is hosting Saturday’s event as a fundraiser for scholarships for graduates of the senior school.

Ms Madeiros will take music and biology classes at the Bermuda College in September.

“Maybe in the future, I can find something to connect the two,” she said.

Her classmate, Nkosi Hollis, can’t wait to get on stage.

“My dream career would be to entertain, make my own music and to produce it and be my own boss,” the 18-year-old said.

“My music teacher, John Woolridge, has helped me a lot. He has shared numerous things about the industry and producing music. He has helped me put my foot in the door as an entertainer.

“I want music to be my main focus but I know that won’t get me a job in the future. That is not what employers are looking for. It is a little frustrating, but I am looking into art therapy so I can use music and counselling to help people. That way it will be the best of both worlds. I like to do therapy and I like to perform.”

He plans to study psychology at the Bermuda College in September, and travel the world with inspirational performance group Up With People beginning next July. He started performing when he was five although he was initially nervous about doing it in front of friends.

“I wasn’t as out about it as I am now,” he said.

“I was more open about my singing when I joined the choir at Bermuda Institute. That is when I got more out of my comfort zone. I got more confident as I got older.

“I would say I am most proud of [this year’s Agricultural Exhibition] performance,” he said. “I sang Feeling Good and really felt it.

“It wasn’t a big crowd, but people there were interacting with me and I felt good.”

The focus of this year’s jam is gospel jazz, a genre that performer Connie Hill is passionate about.

“The most rewarding thing about singing is how it makes you feel, especially when you are singing gospel,” said the 54-year-old. “You are singing songs to God. I like the pleasure it gives to others.”

She started performing at 14, with the Salvation Army Girl Guides.

“Then four or five of us started the Gospel Supremes and sang around Bermuda,” she said. “I [later] sang at Flavours [nightclub] with Michael Fox, an excellent pianist,” she said. “He has passed away now. There was a time when we were doing weddings every weekend. More recently it’s been a slow period with more time to relax.”

The hardest thing about singing for her, is remembering the lyrics.

“In the middle of singing at my boss’s wedding, I forgot the words,” she said. “I sort of mumbled something and then remembered the lines again.”

The delay felt like hours, but in fact probably only lasted a second or two.

“That was 29 years ago,” she said. “She wasn’t my boss at the time but my colleague. I was talking to her the other day, and she said she and her husband watched the tape all the time and never noticed.”

Ms Hill graduated from Berkeley in 1978, and is a proud alumna.

“It was probably at Berkeley that I realised I could really sing,” she said. “The music teacher Eustace Jones told me I had perfect pitch. I loved the family atmosphere of the school.”

When her friend Elton Richardson asked her to sing a duet at the summer jazz jam last year, she was happy to oblige.

“We hadn’t sung together for a number of years,” she said. “It was beautiful getting together with the other musicians, and people I hadn’t been in contact with for years.”

She is singing a duet again this year with Mr Richardson, the host for the event.

• Berkeley’s Summer Jam begins at 7pm. Tickets, $50 for patrons, $30 regular admission and $25 for seniors, are available at Harbourmaster, Robertson’s Drug Store, the Berkeley Institute, www.bdatix.bm or on 599-3723 or 332-0226.