Folk/Folk Rock/Pop
East Village songstress, poet and multi-media maven Rachael Sage has been making gutsy pop music in one form or another since she was three years old. Her latest offering of "lovely and literate folk-pop-rock" (The Village Voice), THE BLISTERING SUN, is devoted to the topics of vision, clarity, and facing life head on.
A self-taught pianist who honed her skills listening to her parents' doo-wop, Broadway and Beatles album collections, Rachael debuted her first original material for a captive audience of kindergarten students one fateful afternoon before their ballet teacher arrived and broke up the party. "When I started," she says, " I was writing a lot of music that sounded like Elton John - if he'd been a nice Jewish girl from a long line of Russian cantors." By junior high school, Sage's dancing abilities had landed her a spot at the prestigious School of American Ballet; but it was really the music she was hearing - in and out of class - that intrigued her the most.
As a teenager, Sage recorded hundreds of demos in the basement on a four-track (her Bat Mitzvah present), arriving at a provocative lyrical and vocal style recently described by Judy Collins as "a great gift...of incredible talent and beauty." After earning a degree in Drama from Stanford University, Rachael returned to New York and founded MPress Records. A sleepless Sage wrote, produced and designed artwork for a swift succession of releases, including "Smashing The Serene" and "Painting of a Painting". In the late '90's she attended the Actors Studio MFA program, working as a jingle-singer and composing music for a steady string of national commercials, before landing a coveted slot at Lilith Fair by entering their New York Talent Search. "Meeting Sarah McLachlan and so many other inspiring artists was a big turning point for me, and I realized I needed to get out of NY, ditch my six-piece band and hit the road if I really wanted to develop as a performer." She started booking her own tours, playing over 150 dates a year throughout the U.S, UK and Europe and earning a sizable fanbase along the way.
During the release of her first few albums, advice and support from the likes of Suzanne Vega, Ani DiFranco (with whom she toured the US) and Eric Burdon of The Animals (with whom she toured Germany) encouraged Sage to stick to her musical roots and "just keep doing what I loved and not think a whole lot about what was going on in the music industry." As a songwriter, she was energized by the sensibilities of Elvis Costello, Patti Smith and Laura Nyro; as a visual artist (Sage also paints, decorates instruments and designs much of her vibrant stage-wear), pop-art pioneers Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring were ongoing visual muses.
After receiving the 2005 Independent Music Award for Best Folk/AAA artist and the 2005 OutMusic Award for Best Songwriter for her previous CD BALLADS & BURLESQUE, Sage headed back into the studio and emerged with her newest full-length work, THE BLISTERING SUN. The 15 song album "focuses on the rare moments where action follows instinct, without procrastination." Fittingly, the cover-art depicts a colorful, super-heroine-esque image of Sage staring unflinchingly at the sun.
Produced by Sage, recorded by John Shyloski and mixed by Kevin Killen (Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush), THE BLISTERING SUN features trumpet player Russ Johnson (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin), drummer Dean Sharp (Moby, Jane Siberry), percussionist Doug Yowell (Duncan Sheik, Suzanne Vega), guitarist Jack Petruzelli (Rufus Wainwright, Gavin DeGraw), cellist Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons, Leona Naess), violinist Allison Cornell (Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson), organist Julie Wolf (Dar Williams) and bassist Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco).
Rachael completed her second successful tour of the UK in November 2007, and debuted in Japan in December 2007. THE BLISTERING SUN will be released in the UK in August, 2008. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her 8th album, CHANDELIER, to be released in the US in the Spring of 2008.
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