Holly Long

Raised in Chicago and born into a musical family, Holly Long learned to play the piano on her Great-Grandmother's upright Hamilton at age 7. As a child she was continually exposed to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Elton John, Beethoven and the Beatles as well as daily doses of ?Free To Be You And Me? via her Dad's HiFi stereo headphones. Influenced thus, she spent her youth and early adult years constantly performing in various musicals, piano contests, choirs, and plays.

In 1988, she moved to California to attend UCLA as a Theater Major. Over the next few years, after receiving her degree, Holly began scribbling lyrics on bar napkins, ?While-You-Were-Out? memos and call-sheets for various acting gigs in an attempt to bring voice to 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 hitting her stride.

Then 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 emotional and physical odyssey. She fell into a coma and was hurriedly diagnosed with Endocarditis, a severe heart infection that threw her body into unimaginable 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.

It was this severe shock to the system that galvanized Holly's musical focus. Her intense honesty, the feelings of longing and inspiration, the drive to uncover and understand her needs were the result of a ?broken heart,? and 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. Additionally, Holly was fortunate enough to enlist the talents of many well-respected musicians and industry veterans for this project.

The first effort was so successful, that in 2001, Holly again partnered with Horvath and released an EP entitled Six Sided Woman. These two recordings 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 received numerous feature film and TV placements including the soundtracks for Warner Bros.' Winning London, Our Lips are Sealed, and NBC's Passions.

Since then, Holly has given birth to her first child, a beautiful girl named Josephine whose life gives Holly a resounding sense of closure 7 years after her own brush with death. Fittingly, Josie has also provided much of the inspiration for Holly's upcoming third project, the soon-to-be-released CD- Every Little Seam.

Holly currently resides in Venice, CA and continues to perform live to enthusiastic audiences. For more information about Holly and her music, please check out www.hollylong.com.


HOLLY has worked with:

SONGWRITERS
Richard Feldman (Grammy Award Winner)
Jeff Harrington (Grammy Award Winner)
Chris Horvath
John Vester (Venice)

PRODUCERS/ENGINEERS
Paul DuGre (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
Chris Horvath (Clio- Award Winner, Gigolo Aunts)
Talley Sherwood (Grammy Award Nominee)
Doug Trantow (Tracy Chapman, Hootie and the Blowfish, Hanson)

MUSICIANS
Kevin Barry (Paula Cole, Jonatha Brooke)
Mark Harris (Stevie Nicks, Ben Taylor)
Jinsoo Lim (Grammy Award Nominee, Macy Gray)