Hillary Bernstein

A writer across genres, from R&B to Pop, Country and even Latin (utilizing her Spanish fluency), Hillary has won nods and awards from the Billboard Songwriting Contest (1st Place, 2003), John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Finalist, 2004), VH-1 Song of the Year (1st Place Monthly Winner, 2004), USA Songwriting Contest and Festival de la Canción (2-song winner, 2004), among others.

Hillary Bernstein's gift for songwriting was first discovered at age nine by her violin teacher, a singer-songwriter herself. Impressed by her young students talent, she quickly changed the focus of Hillarys lessons from violin to songwriting and soon after, had the ten-year-old opening for her with original songs at local venues in her native town of Berkeley, California. Since then, Hillary has continued to hone her musicality and songwriting with years of singing and songwriting classes and experiences, including a tour of Italy with the Wellesley College choir, participation in the NCSA (Northern California Songwriting Association), and collaborations with many local writers and artists.

As a child, Hillary was inspired by the pop ballads of artists such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, and the soulful bent of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson can be heard in her R&B writing. Hillary sees the success of artists such as Alicia Keys and John Legend as an indication that there is still an appreciation for quality songwriting with soul and substance. Her goal is to write songs for artists in that vein, and has set out to distinguish herself in the current musical scene by writing with intelligence, soul, humor and emotion.