Laura Zucker

Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Secondary Genre: Acoustic Lafayette, California USA Contact

Expertly crafted songs, accessible and compelling, performed with a seasoned finesse and a vocal quality that is honest and direct. Two-time Kerrville New Folk Finalist Laura Zucker wins audiences over with a hard-won perspective, powerful imagery and a positive spin.

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Artist Information

Biography

Singer-songwriter Laura Zucker wins audiences over with a hard-won perspective and a positive spin. The powerful imagery of her songs and stories ring so true you might think she’s read your diary - and you’ll find yourself humming her infectious melodies for days to come.

She’s a two-time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk competition in Texas and has received numerous accolades and awards from songwriting and acoustic music organizations near and far.

Laura's Story:
Growing up in Highland Park, NJ, Laura was influenced by her family’s collection of essential folk music, contrasted with the rock sounds emanating from the radio. Her parents played Marais and Miranda, the Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, Mozart, Bach … while she played James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin, Motown, the Beatles.

As she began crafting her own songs in high school, she drew from her own experiences as all songwriters do. While attending Rutgers University, she performed in coffeehouses, clubs and college pubs along the New York- Philadelphia corridor for much of the early 1980s.

She took a break to attend law school and practice law, but knowing she’d need something to fall back on, she kept her music skills honed.

She settled in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 and began to write and play again. Her first CD Left Foot Forward was released in the spring of 2006, and in April of that year, The Confession won the Second Grand Prize in the West Coast Songwriters International Song Contest. She was also recognized by the organization for It Was You and I Can’t Let Go with Best Song awards at their regional songwriting competitions.

Her reputation for crafting vivid stories and compelling melodies began to grow. In 2007 and again in 2009 Laura was invited to play at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival where she was a New Folk Finalist both years. In 2008, she was a finalist in the Public Domain Foundation’s Music to Life contest with Memorial Day from her second CD, Left Foot Forward. Her video for Memorial Day rose to #5 on Neil Young’s Living With War Today video page.

In these first two CD collections Laura discovered and developed her voice, largely drawing from her own life experience. It was when she began writing other people’s stories, though, that she found her cadence as a songwriter. “I had been writing about my pain for song I got tired of hearing my own voice,” she says.

With her newest release, By The Refinery Lights, she deftly transposes the experiences of others into an anthology of lyrics and melodies that trace narratives of life and love; the echoes of memories and the empathy of hope. The title track, in fact, is the story of how her own parents met and fell in love.

“With my first and second CD’s, you can read between the lines and know what was going on in my own life,” she confirms. “This time, it’s been liberating to tell other stories. And even if I do tell my own, they are disguised as others. Don’t tell.”

Instrumentation

Laura Zucker - acoustic Guitar and vocals

Discography

"By The Refinery Lights" 2011
"A Step Ahead" 2008
"Left Foot Forward" 2006

Official Website

http://www.laurazucker.com

Links

Audio

Lyrics

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

Setlist

Varies according to the venue. Best for a two set gig (45 on, 15 off), mixing originals and a wide range of covers, including Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, old standards ("The Way you Look Tonight", 'My Romance", "Since I Fell For You"),Patsy Cline, Bruce Springsteen ("Fire", "Thunder Road")Van Morrison ("Moondance","Crazy Love), too many others to list

Basic Requirements


Calendar

There are no upcoming dates at this time.