Kimberley Dahme
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | INDIE
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Kimberley Dahme
7 p.m. Saturday at Off Broadway, 3511 Lemp Avenue. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. 314-773-3363
Kimberley Dahme is one of those performers who evidently doesn't believe in sticking to only one particular style or category of music. And judging by her recent resume, it's hard to argue with her. In addition to Dahme's role as the current bass player and occasional vocalist with the latest incarnation of the rock band Boston, she's also a country singer-songwriter touring behind her recent debut album, "Let's Sleep on it Tonight." The California-born, Nashville-based Dahme will be focused on performing music from her own CD when she plays an early 7 p.m. concert at Off Broadway this Saturday, but chances are she might break out an acoustic version of her composition "With You," which was included on Boston's "Corporate America" CD. Dahme's powerful soprano voice and undeniable stage presence serve her well, whether she's rocking out with Boston in an arena or playing solo in an intimate club setting.
- www.offbroadwatstl.com
LET'S SLEEP ON IT TONIGHT effortlessly transcends the lines between country, rock, blues and a few other genres, and does so with beauty, craft and grace. Dahme's sincere and soulful vocals front an outstanding group of musicians (including Dahme herself) to create a fresh and exhilarating sound that gleefully refuses to be categorized. Just when you think she's all country, she'll rock your socks off. Just when you think she's just a rocker, she'll melt you with a poignant love song. In a world with far-too-much sterile, homogenized and "targeted" music, such uncompromising versatility is not only refreshing to hear, it's necessary. This is an amazing record. Get it! - Eric Jefferson, Houndog Radio
- http://cdbaby.com/cd/dahme
Posted on Fri, Jul. 30, 2004
Kimberley Dahme shines as first woman in band
By Carol Graham
Herald Staff Writer
Boston makes memorable music. Listeners remember the circumstances of the first time they heard a song - "More Than a Feeling," "Peace of Mind," "Don't Look Back," "Rock & Roll Band" and "Smokin'. " The band has been described as one of the most influential rock bands in history.
Boston will stir up those memories in their 2½-hour show Saturday in the Alerus Center. The band plays straight through with no opening act.
Boston doesn't tour often, so a chance to see the band live is a rarity. The Grand Forks stop is on their route to a Sunday performance in the Grand Beach Manitoba Summer Fest.
The band has its own sound, based on leader Tom Scholz's classical musical training, which began at age 5. Study at MIT and work for Polaroid as a product engineer led to his building a multitrack tape machine and a basement recording studio.
The first Boston album was released in 1976 and quickly became the largest-selling debut album of all time. A Grammy award as "Best New Artist" rocketed the band from obscurity to playing sold-out venues across the country. A world tour followed the 1978 release of "Don't Look Back."
Along with Scholz, band members are Brad Delp, Fran Cosmo, Gary Pihl, Anthony Cosmo, Jeff Neal and Kimberley Dahme, the first woman to perform with the band. She plays bass, acoustic guitar, piano and flute, along with the vocals. Her first official appearance with the band was the national anthem in the Fiesta Bowl in January 2002.
Dahme has opened for Jonny Lang, Johnny Winter, Wynonna Judd, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs and George Thorogood.
Taken from life
She writes from real-life experiences and translates that experience to her music and stage performance.
"I sing from the heart," she said in a recent telephone interview. "My cause is to get people to enjoy the music, dig down deep in their soul or to just have fun."
Audience response to the band's 31-city summer tour has been outstanding.
"I've been so impressed with the demographics," she said. "The kids know every word to every song."
She said the band's music is a tribute to the audience.
What is the attraction to Boston's music for young people?
"The strongest radio stations are classic rock," Dahme said. "They play Boston. The band has had one song or another ... played on the radio since 1976."
Boston has been described as one of the most influential rock bands in history.
"When you're driving on the road and a Boston song comes on," Dahme said, "it immediately takes people to when they first heard it."
- Grand Forks Herald
Published Thursday, August 19, 2004
by Skip Sheffield
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS From left: Brad Delp, Tom Scholz, Kimberly Dahme, Fran Cosmo, Anthony Cosmo, Gary Pihl and Jeff Neal, make up Boston, who will perform Wednesday at Mizner Park Amphitheater.
They claim to be “just another band out of Boston,” but don’t believe it. Classic rock group Boston is one of Beantown’s biggest pop phenomenons ever, and they’ll be playing their hits live at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Mizner Park Amphitheater in downtown Boca Raton.
The newest incarnation of Boston is anchored by co-founders Tom Scholz on guitar, vocals and keyboards and Brad Delp on vocals and guitar. Kimberley Dahme, the group’s first female member, plays bass, sings and contributes to songwriting efforts. Guitarist Anthony Cosmo also sings and writes songs. Anthony’s father, Fran Cosmo, contributes vocals and guitar. Gary Pihl adds additional guitar, keyboards and vocal harmonies and Jeff Neal completes the lineup on drums and vocals. It takes a lot of people to create Boston’s dense, melodic sound.
Boston was created, quite literally, in the basement home studio of M.I.T. engineering genius Tom Scholz, who played everything but drums on his earliest recordings made in his 12-track studio, with singer Brad Delp multi-tracked to provide sky-high harmonies.
When Scholz signed with Epic Records, he recruited Barry Goudreau on guitars, Fran Sheehan on bass and Sib Hasbian on drums so the group could tour to promote its self-titled debut album in 1976. The single “More Than a Feeling” became a worldwide hit, and “Boston” has sold 18 million copies to date.
The towering, 6-foot, 5-inch Scholz, who has 35 patents to his name, also developed a line of Rockman amplifiers and effects boxes.
Scholz was never content to just be an inventor or a businessman, and although he had had epic tangles with record companies and quit performing, he revived Boston in the mid-1990s and recruited new members.
The statuesque and beautiful 6-foot tall Kimberley Dahme was discovered by Scholz three years ago and invited to join the band. She played on and contributed to Boson’s 2003 CD, “Corporate America.”
“I was playing electric steel guitar with the Tom Hambridge Band in Boston,” recounts
Dahme. “Afterward we were signing autographs, when up came Tom Scholz and Gary Pihl, who was Sammy Hagar’s guitarist. Tom started to introduce himself and I said, `I know who you are. I’ve been a fan for a long time.’ Tom asked if I could learn bass and I said sure. I went back to Nashville and thrashed out the parts for a year before we went on tour.”
It wasn’t the first time Dahme “thrashed out” a repertoire for a new gig. Several years ago when she was part of Sabrina & The Blue Jeans, a band in central California, she was offered a solo gig at three times the money and worked up a 75-song repertoire in one week.
Dahme is now a signature artist for Fender guitars, which supplies her with four and five-string basses.
Dahme grew up in San Pablo, California in the Mohave Desert, where there are few distractions. She began her music studies on flute in the third grade, picked up guitar in the sixth grade, and studied music at California State Stanlislaus.
“I’ve studied it all,” she stays. “Renaissance music, opera, madrigals, country, show tunes. I’ve learned I have to do music or I couldn’t breathe.”
Dahme married and had two children, then divorced before she began her career with Boston.
“I leave the kids with my mom in Nashville when I go on tour,’ she says. “Tours are usually 10 days to three weeks, then I get time at home, so it’s ideal for a mom with children. Being in Boston is such a blast. Tom is amazing – a genius – but he can be very normal. I feel like a puppy dog following him around. I am very honored to be the first female in the group, to represent part of history.”
Tickets for Boston are $33, $39.50 and $49.50. Call
962-4106.
- Boca Raton News
Discography
SOLO:
* You Make Me Believe (2009)
* Let's Sleep On It Tonight (2006)
* You Barely Even Touched Me (2005)
* Kimberley Dahme (2004)
* Berlin Unplugged (2000)
* These Wheels
BOSTON:
* Corporate America (2002)
Photos
Bio
Born and raised in California, Kimberley Dahme has had a musical career no Hollywood screen writer could ever imagine. From singing as a child in a Straw Hat Pizza Parlor to playing in front of millions of TV viewers with the super group BOSTON ("More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind"), Kimberley's musical journey has been a musician's dream come true.
Guided by her mother who always told her, "You've got to follow your dream", Kimberley has been playing, performing and writing music since the age of 8. She learned to play the flute and guitar and - prophetically - played in a BOSTON cover band in grammar school. She appeared on the "You Can Be a Star" TV talent show in the 80's and by the time she was 19, Kimberley was singing and writing radio jingles for the likes of Toyota, Wrangler jeans and Pontiac.
Kimberley studied Music and Radio/TV announcing while attending college on music and sports scholarships (in fact, the 6-foot Kimberley still holds her high school's basketball rebound record). She won the only solo vocal part in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that toured Europe for 6 weeks with a 75 piece choral ensemble.
Kimberley moved to Nashville in 1997. She was chosen for the Nashville New Faces World tour and embarked on another European tour. The stars literally aligned for Kimberley when she hooked up with Grammy nominated producer Tom Hambridge and began playing in his band. In 2001, Tom Scholz, the genius guitarist, songwriter and producer of the band BOSTON, came to a club performance to check out Hambridge as a replacement drummer for BOSTON. Although, Scholz liked Hambridge, he was immediately impressed by Kimberley's singing and guitar playing and asked her if she played bass. Although mainly a guitarist, she instantly recognized a golden opportunity and told Scholz, "I can learn!" She bought a bass, hit the woodshed and got an audition. A couple of months later she was on stage with BOSTON performing at the Fiesta Bowl playing bass in front of 74,000 people and millions of TV viewers.
In a nod to her songwriting skills, Tom Scholz included her song "With You" on the BOSTON CD "Corporate America". Amazingly, Scholz only added a few backing tracks and used Kimberley's original one-take voice and guitar demo for the CD. Kimberley has been with BOSTON for over seven years and she is the first woman to be a member of the band. She has toured three times with BOSTON and, in 2006, she performed at Boston's Symphony Hall with BOSTON and the Boston Pops for Doug Flutie Day.
When she's not rehearsing, touring or recording with BOSTON, Kimberley continues to write, record, and perform her own unique brand of music. Her music is a mix of classic rock/blues and contemporary country. She writes about true life stories and, while she can "rock" with the best of them, she is not afraid to show her vulnerable side with her tender, heart-felt ballads.
Kimberley has opened and/or performed with Shawn Colvin, Dwight Yoakum, Wynnona Judd, Joan Osbourne, Jonny Lang, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter and other major artists. She has been featured on the cover of Nashville's "The Nashville Music Guide" magazine and she can be seen in David Frizzell's "Water Makes Her Clothes Stay On" video. She is an endorsee of Fender and Guild Guitars, D'Addario Strings and Planet Waves and Hipshot musical accessories.
Despite her busy schedule, Kimberley has generously offered her time and musical energy to a variety of charitable causes. Many of her past performances have directly benefited children with cancer, autism, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, families in need, abused children and inner-city schools.
Kimberley continues to follow her musical dreams and is currently recording and touring solo and with Color Three (www.colorthree.com), a trio formed with Boston band mates Gary Pihl and Jeff Neal.
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