Brad from Seattle, Washington, USA formed officially in 1992 (though the members had been playing together for a long time before that) and in 1993 released their debut album Shame. Brad includes 4 friends from the Seattle area who are musicians, including Stone Gossard (of Pearl Jam fame), Regan Hagar (former member of an early grunge band Malfunkshun), Shawn Smith (also a member of Pigeonhed and Satchel) and Jeremy Toback also of Ons.
Gaby Moreno’s new album, Illustrated Songs, continues her love affair with the sounds of the blues, soul and jazz that captivated her as a girl. Although she was born and raised in Guatemala, it was the sounds of the American South that inspired her to become a songwriter and recording artist. “I heard an African American woman singing on the street in New York City when I was younger. I just froze. When I asked her what she called that music, she looked at me and said, ‘That’s the blues, honey.’”
Mindy Smith (born June 1, 1972 on Long Island, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. Mindy rose to fame in 2003 when she was the first artist signed to contribute to the Dolly Parton tribute album Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton, on which she sang a cover of Parton's classic "Jolene". Later Dolly Parton followed by adding backing vocals to a new mix of the song, which was then featured on Smith's debut album that was released in January 2004, One Moment More.
A native of snowy Rochester, NY, Jess Klein picked up the acoustic guitar and started writing songs while living as a student abroad in Kingston, Jamaica in her late teens. Her first songs reflected a bittersweet culture shock as well as the warmth and musical vibrancy of these new surroundings. While shopping for cassette tapes of dub poets Mutabaruka and Linton Kwesi Johnson, fate put her in touch with the MC of a weekly dub poetry and music session, who took an interest in her talent and encouraged her to audition for a guest slot.
Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973 in Lexington, Massachusetts) is a singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic and electric guitar (usually a twelve-string), and has played both solo and with a full band. The Faster Songfacts says that his seventh studio album, Modern Love debuted on #17 on the Billboard 200 for the week of July 9, 2011, making it Nathanson's most successful album to date.
Melbourne-based Laura Jean has been gracing Australian stages for many years. Invitations to share them have come from overseas artists such as Mark Kozelek (ex-Red House Painters) Richard Buckner, M. Ward, Faun Fables, Tuck and Patti, and Australian acts like Augie March, Ben Lee, Claire Bowditch, Machine Translations, Gaslight Radio, and Sarah Blasko. Her first E.P, 'The Hunter's Ode' (2003) was embraced by community radio and street press across the country, as well as Triple J. The title track is apparently still sometimes heard late at night.
Andrew McMahon (born September 3, 1982) is a Maverick recording singer/songwriter and the vocalist, pianist and main songwriter for the band Jack's Mannequin and the Geffen/Drive-Thru Records band Something Corporate.
He was diagnosed with Leukemia on June 1st, 2005. On August 23rd, 2005, Andrew recieved a stem cell transplant, the donor was his sister Katie McMahon.
Stephen Bishop (born 14 November 1951 in San Diego, California) is an American singer and guitarist. He had a major hit in 1977 with the song "On and On"; his other hits include "Save It for a Rainy Day," "Everybody Needs Love," and "It Might Be You," the theme from the movie Tootsie. He has also performed many movie themes, including the theme from National Lampoon's Animal House, which he sang in a falsetto voice.
Mieka Pauley began as a solo artist in Boston. Her haunting voice and heartbreaking lyrics gained her more than a few fans, securing her bills with Citizen Cope, KT Tunstall, Natasha Bedingfield, Ben Kweller, Mason Jennings, John Legend, the Avett Brothers and many others. She won the first ever Starbucks Emerging Artist Award and the New York Songwriters Circle Songwriting Contest, and she was named Cosmopolitan Magazine's Fun Fearless Female Rockstar of the Year.
Anika Moa (born 21st May 1980) is a singer-songwriter from Christchurch, New Zealand. While still at school in Christchurch, Moa entered the 'Smokefree Rockquest'.
She received a record deal with Warner Music in New Zealand and Atlantic Records in New York. The record company had big commercialized plans for her - which conflicted with her brash down-to-earth personality. Overall Moa did not enjoy her time in America and returned to base herself in New Zealand. Her first album was released in 2001.