The artist LP is a
testimony to perseverance in the music business. She has been signed to labels, dropped, resigned, dropped, and every time continued to move forward.
She never gave up and just recently put out her first full length album (or I
could joke LP) and it has been getting a ton of attention. LP may be short in
stature, but not in determination. When you hear her powerful voice you wonder
how it can come out of her body. Her voice soars and brings you into her lyrics
immediately.
LP was born in NYC in the
early 80’s. She likes to be a bit mysterious (hence using a moniker rather than
her real name) and not giving a date of birth. Her dad was a lawyer and her mom
was an opera singer who passed away while LP was still in high school. Music is
how she coped with her mother’s passing. David Lowery from Cracker heard her
and featured her on a 1998 Cracker song. Lowery produced her first full length
album but if never caught on. In 2006 she performed at South by Southwest and a
bidding war was started to sign her. She signed to Def Jam records but left the
label before she put out an album due to artistic differences. She then signed
with RedOne Records, but that also never materialized an album.
LP was however writing
tons of songs and a few of these songs were picked up by major artists. These
varied from Rihannah to Backstreet Boys to Christine Aguilera to Joe Walsh. Millions
of people were hearing her songs and not knowing who wrote them. LP had earned a great
reputation as a songwriter in the industry and was sought out after for her hit songs. Because of the overwhelming demand for her songwriting
ability, she moved to Los Angeles. In 2011 she started performing again with her traditional ukulele by her side and
this time drew large crowds to see and hear her. LP signed with Warner Brothers
who put out an EP in 2011 titled Into the
Wild. The title song got a lot of
airplay and was featured on a national bank TV commercial. All of a sudden everyone wanted to
know who was behind that voice. LP just released her first full length album on
Warner Brothers Forever For Now. I am not going to play "Into the Wild" but rather chose "Night Like This" for your listening pleasure:
I recently had the privilege of work an LP show when she recently came to Baltimore. I had not heard much about her, so I didn’t know what to expect. I can tell you that she was one of the most humble artists I have worked with. She appreciated everything I did for her at the merch table. What impressed me most was she signed merch after the show. The line was very long and she spent time with each person one on one. She asked their names, had a short conversation, took pictures, and made each one feel like a friend. She wasn’t doing it to sell merch, she was really interested in what each person had to say. Her honesty and kindness came through. I was very impressed with her positive attitude about life, especially since she has gone through a lot to get to where she is today.
UPDATE: The gorgeous harmonies of Sweden's First Aid Kit are back with a new release titled Stay Gold. I have written about them in the past and this album has some stronger writing but continue the mesmerizing sister harmonies. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
