singer-songwriter | Musicosity

singer-songwriter

Lisa Mitchell

Lisa Helen Mitchell was born in England on March the 22nd of 1990, although migrated to New South Wales, Australia at the age of three. She is the eldest of two in a family which resides in the border town of Albury, Australia. Her musical journey began at age twelve when she started taking guitar lessons with a focus on rock and folk. Not long after, she fronted a cover band called Chrome - predominately playing in local cafes.

John Legend

John Stephens (born December 28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio), better known as John Legend, is a Grammy award winning R&B singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet and actor signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. Prior to the release of his debut album Get Lifted in 2004, Legend's career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists such as Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. He released his second album, Once Again in 2006, and his latest release, 2008's Evolver showcased a more experimental and upbeat side of Legend.

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Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer from the United States. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards. Rickie Lee Jones is a singer songwriter whose style leans on jazz and pop/R&B timing and personification.

Jones settled in LA at the age of nineteen, doing the classic waiting tables stuff until she landed a recording contract with Warners. Her self-titled debut album in 1979 was a big success, as was the single, Chuck E.'s in Love, about her musician friend Chuck E. Weiss. At the 1980 Grammy Awards, she won a Grammy for Best New Artist, and also received four more nominations: for Record of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female; and Song of the Year (for "Chuck E.'s in Love"). While none of her subsequent recordings achieved the same level of commercial success, Jones has continued releasing critically acclaimed albums that have explored a variety of sonic terrain from jazz standards to trip hop influenced works.

Jones' pursuit of jazz standards led to the recording of "The Moon Is Made of Gold" and "Autumn Leaves" for Rob Wasserman's album Duets in 1985. The latter track earned her another Grammy nomination. And in 1990, her duet with Dr. John, a cover of "Makin' Whoopee", earned the artist her second Grammy Award, this time in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group.

At the time of recording her debut album, Jones was in a romantic relationship with Tom Waits; she is the girl draped over the car on the cover of his 1978 album Blue Valentine.

Early in her career, Jones was known for her drinking and substance abuse. She eventually tempered those demons, and came to terms with herself, and her own uncertain spirituality, and has maintained respect of her musical peers.

She's devoted to her talents, beyond music, one of which is raising her teenage daughter, and has even run her own political website and made music critiquing the Bush administration. She is involved in left-wing politics and community activism, partly through her web community, Furniture for the People (http://www.furnitureforthepeople.com/).

A greatest hits collection on Rhino called The Duchess of Coolsville was released in 2005.

In 2007 she signed to New West Records releasing The Sermon On Exposition Blvd, a record exploring lyrical territory inspired by Lee Cantelon's 1991 book The Words, which attempted to translate Christ's teachings into a more accessible contemporary format. Cantelon's friend, Guitarist Peter Atanasoff was instrumental in the creation of the eventual record.

Discography

1979: Rickie Lee Jones – Warner Bros.
1981: Pirates – Warner Bros.
1983: Girl at Her Volcano (EP) – Warner Bros.
1984: The Magazine – Warner Bros.
1989: Flying Cowboys - Geffen
1991: Pop Pop - Geffen
1993: Traffic From Paradise - Geffen
1995: Naked Songs - Reprise
1997: Ghostyhead – Warner Bros.
2000: It's Like This - Artemis
2001: Live at Red Rocks - Artemis
2003: The Evening of My Best Day – V2
2005: Duchess of Coolsville - Rhino
2007: Sermon On Exposition Boulevard - New West
2009: Balm in Gilead
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Mia Dyson

As a little girl growing up in a sleepy surf town on Australia’s southern coast, Mia Dyson would sit in her father’s workshop and watch him build custom guitars by hand. He would play records by The Band and Bob Dylan and she would dream of playing lead guitar in arenas around the world. From an early age Mia was all too aware of the lack of female musicians she could look up to. “When people think of a musician or rockstar, they almost always think of someone male. If you want to be a serious musician/songwriter as a female, what is that? What does that look like?” says Dyson.

Matt Wertz

Matt Wertz is a singer/songwriter from Liberty, Missouri. Wertz gained a considerable fan base by performing at Young Life camps, after releasing "Somedays", his first album. He has released three studio albums, and one EP, which have all been produced by himself and Ed Cash with an exception on the EP where his best friend Dave Barnes helped produce the album. Aside from touring with such acts as Jamie, Gavin Degraw, Matt Nathanson and Jars of Clay, he has headlined several tours nationally in the early to mid-2000s.

Sandi Thom

Sandi Thom’s infamous debut single, I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) topped the charts in 7 countries with the ensuing album shifting over a million copies worldwide and winning her an Ivor Novello award.
That was 2006.
After touring the UK & Europe with new Blues Powerhouse Joe Bonamassa in late 2009, opening for the likes of BB King and Steve Winwood, Sandi was inspired to explore deeper and more organic musical roots with her next record.

David Dondero

David Dondero is a singer/songwriter whose music has been compared to such American folk music/troubadour greats as Woody Guthrie and Townes Van Zandt. He began in 1993 as a member of the band Sunbrain, and later played in This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb and The Flatwheelers. He is currently on the Team Love Records label and has toured with such acts as Bright Eyes, Tilly and the Wall, Spoon, and Willy Mason.

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Holly Kirby

Holly Kirby is a singer-songwriter and musician from the Isle of Wight, England. Her YouTube channel, alpet07, which she set up aged 16 in 2007, is frequently one of the most viewed musician's sites on YouTube in the UK. In the past year much of Holly's work has been an eclectic mix of Celtic, folk and pop music. Holly appeared as Enya in a popular British TV show ("Stars In Their Eyes Kids") in 2006, when she was 15, singing "Orinoco Flow" .

rosie burgess

With the award of a Victoria Rocks Touring Grant in Jan 2008 having propelled her around Australia on national tour, Rosie Burgess has emerged onto the Australian music scene to firmly secure a place for herself and her unique brand of urban folkroots music. Playing straight from the heart, Burgess consistently shows us why she is being called "one of our country's best rising stars" . The release of her album, Humble Pie [MGM/PSR], last year saw Burgess's music hit the national stage, and with radio showing great support for the album...

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Mark Kozelek

Mark Kozelek was born and raised in Massillon, Ohio. Upon relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, he met drummer Anthony Koutsos. After the pair moved once again to San Francisco, California, Red House Painters formed with the addition of guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel. From 1992 to 1996, Red House Painters released a series of acclaimed albums, showcasing Kozelek's intense, highly autobiographical songs.

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