Farewell Interview with Jump5's Lesley Moore

By Sandy Lo Grasso
Editor-In-Chief
October 2007

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): I’m here today with Lesley from Jump5. How are you today?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): I’m doing good. How about you?

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): I’m doing great. So today is the big day. Your last album dropped in record stores today. How are you feeling about that?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): I’m actually very excited. It’s kind of bitter-sweet. It’s kind of sad, but at the same time we all excited to move on, so it’s bitter-sweet.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Why don’t you tell me a little about the first single off the album?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Okay. Are you talking about “Shoot The Moon” or “I Surrender All”?

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Let’s talk about “Shoot The Moon” first.

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Okay. “Shoot The Moon” is a really upbeat song. The people who write for Hannah Montana or Miley Cryus from the Disney Channel wrote this song specifically for us. We almost finished recording our CD and we needed one more song, and it just happened that these people e-mailed it to us a couple of days we had to be done with our CD. We heard it and cut it the next day.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Now, what’s “I Surrender All” about?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): It’s a bible song that people sing in church. It’s Brandon playing the piano and us singing, so…it’s a really good song, and I really like it.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): What made Jump5 decide to disband?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): We went in for a meeting with our management, and we all sat down. We were looking at each other and we were trying to do things that we were going to do this year. We were like, we’ve done this, we’ve done this…what else do we want to try? And we all just kind of looked at each other, and it was the weirdest feeling, and one of us was like, I think it’s just time for us to move on. That’s how it got started, but we did want to do one last thing for the fans and just have closure for ourselves. We needed to do one last tour, have one last CD. It was just kind of a mutual feeling between the members. It is sad, but we all have stuff we want to move on and do. It’s going to be hard because this has been the last nine years of my life, but it is time to move on.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Was it more difficult for you guys when Libby left?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Actually that was her decision and we all understood where she was coming from. She wanted be home with her family on the holidays, and go to school, and see her friends all the time. That’s something we don’t get when we’re traveling. We were sad, but it was her time to go and it made her happier.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): How’s the tour going so far?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): It’s been going great. We’ve been having a bunch of fun. We’ve only done three or four dates so far. It’s cool to see the fans that have been there since we started at the past couple of shows.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): What kind of things are you looking forward to doing once the tour is over?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): I’m actually going to pursue something in the country music business. That’s where my heart and soul is. I’m a southern girl, so…I’ve grown up listening to country. Also, I’m getting married.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Oh, congratulations! When are you planning to get married?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Thank you! He has a couple of semesters left in college, so as soon as he gets out. I’m in college also, so I plan to finish school.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Wow, how do you manage school and touring at the same time?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): I think online courses. So everything I do is online. I have to teach myself. It is really hard sometimes. It is nice to not have to actually go into a class, but at the same time I have to be self-motivated to know when all my work’s due. It does gets rough on the road because we are so busy, but when I look back, I’m glad that I’m doing it because I am getting it out of the way.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): You guys have always been a great role model for young kids. Do you hope to continue that kind of image with your solo career?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Oh, definitely. Who I am in Jump5, it’s not an act that any of us put on. That’s who we really are. To be any way different would be fake to me.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Do you know what the rest of the group will be doing after the tour?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): Brittany and Brandon are actually starting their own band together. I think it’s going to be kind of rock music. Chris is moving to California. He’s going to pursue acting, and I think a solo career.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Very cool. Let’s talk a little bit more about the album. Compared to the last albums that you guys did, what would you say is the biggest difference?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): We wrote a bunch of the songs on this album, and we were a part of the production side of it. So we had input on everything that’s going on. This is really like our baby.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): What would you say is one of your favorite songs from the album?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): I think my favorite song is “Shoot The Moon”. I think because it’s a crowd favorite when we perform, and people just love it! Even if they don’t know it, that’s their favorite. So I get all hyped up when we do that song.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): Now if there’s a song out there that you’d want to dedicate to your fans, which song would you choose and why?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): We have a song on the CD called “Still Got Me”. We actually wrote that song specifically for our fans as a thank you. It just really sums up everything that we’ve been about. How it is sad, but we’re going to move on.

Sandy (StarShine Magazine): And lastly, do you have anything to say to your fans and future fans?

Lesley Moore (Jump5): To my fans now, thank you so much! Everything that we have done could be possible without every single one of you. To my future fans, I hope you like my music and I hope you remain a fan!