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This Season (2010)
Local Food: $0
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On Stage 6/22 – Holly Long

Raised in Chi-town and born into a musical family, singer/songwriter Holly Long needled her parents into piano lessons on her Great-Grandmother’s upright Hamilton at age 7. As a young child she was exposed to the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Elton John, Beethoven and the Beatles, sprinkled with daily doses of Free To Be You and Me via her Dad’s HiFi stereo headphones. Diversely influenced, spent her youth and early adult years performing in various musicals, piano recitals and plays.

After high school, Holly moved to California to attend UCLA as a Theater Major. She suddenly found herself scribbling lyrics on bar napkins and call-sheets for various acting gigs in an attempt to bring voice to what Hollywood wasn’t really supporting her growing creative force. Three demo recordings at Randy Alpert’s SCREAM Studios, one indie record deal gone bust and countless local gigs later, Holly seemed to be just about ready to call herself a songwriter.

In late 1996, she was unexpectedly rushed to the hospital with what appeared to be an intense case of the Flu, but turned out to be the beginning of a two-year, life-changing odyssey. She fell into a coma and was diagnosed with Endocarditis, a severe heart infection that threw her body into massive trauma. After a week of unconsciousness, she was lucky enough to awake and begin a slow process of recovery. She lost her hair, lost function of all her muscles and had to learn to walk all over again. A humbling experience, to say the least.

This severe shock to the system galvanized Holly’s musical focus. Her heart-felt honesty, feelings of longing and inspiration, and the drive to understand herself were the result of a literal broken heart, and ultimately became the seeds for her debut album, City Girl in 2000. Met with critical acclaim, Holly’s debut CD was created alongside Clio-award-winning producer and arranger Chris Horvath.

In 2001, Holly again partnered with Horvath and released an EP entitled Six Sided Woman. This new recording along with City Girl garnered her 3rd place in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest of 2000 and an Honorable Mention in the 2001 USA Songwriting Contest.

Additionally, Holly’s songs have received numerous feature film and TV placements including NBC’s Passions, the soundtracks for Warner Bros.’ films Winning London and Our Lips are Sealed, and multiple CD compilations including Live On: Songs of Love, Hope and Inspiration (A benefit CD to aid the American Red Cross Relief efforts helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita) and Girls Night Out: Life & Love, that have graced the shelves of TARGET and other major retail outlets.

Since then, Holly has given birth to her two children, a beautiful girl named Josephine and sweet baby boy, Truman. Fittingly, Jo provided much of the inspiration for Holly’s third project and well-received second CD Every Little Seam released in 2004. Truman has also since been instrumental in molding Holly’s ever-changing creative and musical voice.

Continuing the journey of being a mom and an artist brought Holly to write and record her third full length album, Leaving Kansas, under the careful musical direction of her Manager, Producer and dear friend, Anthony J.W. Benson. For this project Benson enlisted an experienced production team to help capture the organic feel, emotion and intimacy that would best highlight Holly’s beautiful voice and skillful songwriting. With the new team in place, including renowned recording engineer Ian Terry (David Bowie, Diana Krall, Leonard Cohen) and mastering wiz Dominick Maita (Fall Out Boy, Jewel, Curtis Stigers), the results, arguably, reflect the best of Holly Long as a performer and songwriter to date.

Holly happily resides in Venice, CA with her husband and children and continues to wrangle the butterfly muse. Through therapy, yoga, and a little help from her friends, Holly performs with love and gratefulness.

Peace. Love. Music.

June 16th, 2008 | Category: | Leave a comment

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