RACHAEL YAMAGATA

'Rachael Yamagata' (born September 23 1978 in Arlington, Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter. She plays piano and has a dark, raspy alto.

Contents

Early life

Music career

Bumpus

Solo career

Discography

Studio album

EPs

Singles

Live/Compilations

Bumpus

Other contributions

References

External links

Early life

A child of divorced parents, Yamagata divided her time growing up between her Sansei Japanese American father, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and Harvard graduate; and her Italian-German, Jewish mother, an artist/painter in New York City. Yamagata graduated from the Holton-Arms School for Girls in Bethesda, Maryland, and attended Northwestern and Vassar.

Music career

Bumpus

Yamagata became the vocalist for the Chicago funk-fusion band Bumpus, spending six years writing and recording three albums with the band and touring the country. In 2001, after having written a number of songs that didn't fit with the funk style of the band, Yamagata decided to take the songs and launch a solo career. In September 2002, she landed a two-record deal with Arista's Private Music and her self-titled EP, ''Rachael Yamagata Ep'' was released in October.

Solo career

She also made an appearance in Jason Mraz's second album, singing a song with him called "Did You Get My Message?". She also sings on "Fireflies" and "The Believer" on Rhett Miller's solo CD, "Barfly" on Ray Lamontagne's "Till the Sun Turns Black" and "Let it Ride", "Cold Roses", and "Friends", on Ryan Adams' ''Cold Roses''. She sings backup on six tracks on the Bright Eyes' album ''Cassadaga''.
Her first full-length album, ''Happenstance'', followed in June 2004. It was produced by John Alagia (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Ben Folds Five). "I Want You" features several members of prominent American Klezmer group The Klezmatics. Videos were made for the first and second singles "Worn Me Down" and "1963".
She is currently at work on her as yet untitled album, which she hopes to release sometime this year.
Her songs have featured on several TV shows, including ''ER '', ''Nip/Tuck'', ''Men in Trees'',''One Tree Hill'', ''Brothers And Sisters'' and ''The O.C.,'' to which she made a guest performance in season 2. Yamagata also contributed a song to Mandy Moore's 2007 album, ''Wild Hope''.^[1] Yamagata's second studio album, yet untitled, is slated for release for late-spring to late-summer of 2007.^[2][3]
The 2005 film ''Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'', adaptation of a Ann Brashares novel, starring America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, Blake Lively features the song ''Be Be Your Love''. The series ''One Tree Hill'' also features this song in their second season, 9th episode ("The Trick Is To Keep Breathing")
The 2005 film ''Prime'', starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep features Yamagata's song ''I Wish You Love''.
The 2005 film ''In Her Shoes'', starring Cameron Diaz included the song ''Collide''.
The 2006 film ''The Last Kiss'', starring Zach Braff features the song ''Reason Why''.

Discography

Studio album

★ ''Happenstance'' (2004)

EPs

★ ''Rachael Yamagata EP'' (2003)

★ ''Live at the Loft & More'' (2005)

Singles

★ "Worn Me Down"

★ "Letter Read"

★ "1963"

★ "River"

★ "Be Be Your Love"

Live/Compilations

★ ''Japan 2005 Tour Sampler

★ ''Live at the Bonnaroo Music Festival'' (2004), released exclusively on Bonnaroo

★ ''Sony Connect Sets'' (2005), released exclusively on Sony Connect

★ '' (2005), released exclusively on iTunes

★ '' (2005), released exclusively on Napster

Bumpus

★ ''Bumpus'' (1999)

★ ''Steroscope'' (2001)

Other contributions

★ Ryan Adams - ''Cold Roses'' (2005)

★ Bright Eyes - ''Four Winds'' (2007)

★ Bright Eyes - ''Cassadaga'' (2007)

★ Jason Mraz - ''Did You Get My Message?''

★ Mandy Moore - ''Wild Hope'' (2007)

References

1. http://www.keyt.com/entertainment/5692661.html
2. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003548849
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zLQaomZGts&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethereasonwhy%2Eorg%2Fmainpageupdates%2Ehtm

External links

★ Official website

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★ Rachael Yamagata: Confessions on ''Happenstance''

★ ''Happenstance'' reviews