A brief personal description: I am a terrible tap-dancer, but a promising flamenco dancer (except not great at castanets.) I am great at details but sometimes miss the big picture. A lot of the time, I am not incredibly motivated by more than fear. [+]A brief personal description: I am a terrible tap-dancer, but a promising flamenco dancer (except not great at castanets.) I am great at details but sometimes miss the big picture. A lot of the time, I am not incredibly motivated by more than fear. I am earnest. I love to read and draw, unless I feel uninspired or unoriginal. I love to sing.
A brief musical history (the nitty gritty): First documented live recording: age three singing the alphabet song. Began playing the violin that same year. Joined orchestra at the age of seven – experienced serious bass and cello envy, particularly because the girls got to wear pants, instead of ankle length skirts. First (un)documented theatrical production: Age seven: a two-girl re-enactment of “A Chorus Line.” No tits or ass to speak of, but a lot of verve. I never got the solos in chorus that I wanted, like the intro to “When You Wish Upon a Star” in 6th grade. Finally at the age of 13 had my voice heard in a jazz vocal ensemble.
At 17, I figured out that I identified a lot more as a singer than a violinist, and gently put my violin into semi-retirement (coaxed with a drink and promise of beachfront property.) Sang all throughout college [while getting a degree in English literature] in clubs, dives and theatres, including a stint as a back-up singer for a group called “Pet the Poodle.” I was a poodette. Hmm.
Met up with an old friend on a trip to Nashville and began writing songs, the first of which won a prize in the first International John Lennon Songwriting Contest. This songwriting team flourished into a band called “Methuselah Jones” that I recorded and performed with for four years. I also had the pleasure of working with talented producers such as Pat Dillett (They Might Be Giants, David Byrne) and Rob Stevens (Yoko Ono, John Lennon Anthology.)
Going solo: By this time I was now performing as a soloist with the Metro Mass Gospel choir on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Avery Fischer Hall; was singing back-up with a handful of groups; and had begun to rekindle my romance with strings and orchestral arrangements. In search of creating my own version of pop music, I began leading a group under my own name in a style that many fans called “chamber-pop-soul”, and recorded my first solo ep
|
 |