Silverqueen
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Silverqueen

Huntington, New York, United States | SELF

Huntington, New York, United States | SELF
Band Alternative Singer/Songwriter

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Singer Stuns With Voice, Unique Sound"

Singer Stuns With Voice, Unique Sound
The Long-Islander, Thursday January 19, 2012
By Jasmine Weber
"Music is such a powerful vessel for communication and expression," Huntington-based musician Anna Tsangaris Johnson said. "I hear music in my sleep and I just feel this constant need to create."
Johnson, who professionally goes by the name Silverqueen, said that her passion for music has been alive all her life. A musician, singer and songwriter, she has taken it to the next level with her new, independently-released album, "Uprising."
The 33-year-old said her life revolves around music, from her performances to her career as a music therapist. The singer is proud of creating her self-produced album, and said it provided her first opportunity to step into the professional music world and understand how much work is needed to create and album. It took a year to complete it.
The musician approaches her music with what some may consider a nontraditional point of view.
A guitarist and pianist, she said, “I am self-taught so I question if I really do know how to play any of these instruments. Half the time I don’t know exactly what it is that I am playing!”
People tell her she has a “haunting sound,” the singer said, describing her music as “passionate, spiritual, raw, melodic, heavy but not in a stylistic sense.” Accompanied by string instruments and percussion, her bold lyrics in all of her album’s tracks evoke emotion.
She uses her own life experiences to draw inspiration for her lyrics. She said she channels her anger, hopefulness and energy into the lyrics, adding that her songs allow the listener to develop a personal connection and to interpret as he or she pleases.
“Whatever makes a song meaningful to the listener is important to me,” Johnson said.
The Queens-born artist has lived on Long Island on and off since she was younger, and in 2006 she moved here permanently. She now calls Huntington home, praising the town for its diverse population for a suburb. Things like the annual gay pride parade, art galleries and local music scene appeal to her, she said, adding that the support for music through The Paramount theater and Cinema Arts Centre show how lucky Huntington is when it comes to the arts.
Besides her recorded songs, Johnson uses her training in music therapy to give back to the community. She graduated from Berklee College of Music after studying music therapy and received her clinical training at The Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
Her music career continues to grow. She opened for Roger Waters at the Jones Beach Theater, and will soon play at The Legendary Dobbs in Philadelphia. She hopes to find a band to expand her career and soon will start working on a second album as she continues to grow as an artist.

- The Long-Islander


"Silverqueen (Artist Review)"

December 4, 2011
Flashback Saturday night. I went to review a band but to no avail. I was in no mood to wait for a band that was making no attempt to take the stage at there given show time. Guess they were having too much fun hanging out by the fire pit outside. Instead of entertaining the crowd waiting inside. I waited for a bit then I said screw it and made my way back home. By the way if I wouldn't wait for Axl. I'm sure not gonna wait for you. In hindsight I'm glad they tried my patience. Because on Sunday I stumble upon an artist by pure mistake.
Sunday I attended a show at Mr Beery's. The show was hosted by Mike Ferrari and Radio J. Mike is best known as the publisher of the Aural Fix Magazine. This show was a benefit to end crohn's disease. The show showcased many Long Island bands.
One artist of the night just blew me away. She goes by the name of Silverqueen. She took to the stage with microphone in hand. And open her set singing over some layered vocals that were coming through some top secret pedal. Her voice was memorizing. Sweet and haunting all at the same time.
After her first song Silverqueen strapped on her acoustic guitar and gave a stunning performance. Silverqueen ended her set the way she had begun it. Microphone in hand. Her voice and her nifty machine.
I was so impressed I asked her for a copy of her CD. I popped it in on my ride home and was impressed all over again. Her CD was recored with a full band. Giving her songs a wider palate to enjoy. - John Lamont, In a Crowd


"Review: Silverqueen Lights Up Velvet Lounge"

Review: Silverqueen Lights Up Velvet Lounge
Three Village Patch, June 28, 2010
By James Haag
The name came in a childhood dream that endured for years ­– an abstract vision of a figure on a stage, accompanied by a compelling sense of peace and purpose at once both clear and inscrutable. It's only been more recently that Anna Tsangaris-Johnson has transformed the memory of Silverqueen, her latest musical project, into a reality.

The self-taught multi-instrumentalist, armed with an acoustic guitar and several effects pedals, played at the Velvet Lounge in East Setauket on Sunday night, where her performances are finding appreciative audiences at regular gigs the last Sunday each month. Crystalline acoustic guitar chords and quietly commanding mezzo-soprano vocals filled the venue during Sunday's set, along with a handful of covers, including "Creep" by Radiohead, "Wing" by Patty Smyth, and a wonderfully ethereal treatment of "Amazing Grace," peppering a repertoire of largely original material.

"I don't feel like a guitarist," she said of her approach as she relaxed between sets. "I don't have any real technique, but you do discover a lot of chords that work, or may not work."

Soaring melodies and insistent strums both were bathed in limpid echoes and languid swirls, and those sonic filigrees themselves were often manipulated mid-song to compelling effect. To wit: the opening song, "Prayer From The Womb of Subterranea," employed a vocal loop pitch-shifted to produce a resonant, cello-like tone behind her live vocals.

"I wish I had another set of arms," she joked. "I love my pedals."

Overlaying all this were her lyrics, alternately surreal and seething in content but deceptively effortless in their delivery, as suggested by the quatrain "The years come and pass/But one things stays the same/The innocent die with bloodshed/All in Jesus' name," from her song "Turtle Island," a rumination on the treatment of Native American tribes.

The daughter of Greek Cypriot refugees, whose native country was invaded in the summer of 1974 by Turkey, ostensibly in response to a coup staged by the then-ruling military junta of Greece, Tsangaris-Johnson momentarily reflected on the legacy of the invasion there (the island nation remains bisected, with the de facto but formally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus occupying its top half) the mix of emotions she feels when she travels there and how these have informed her music.

"Nicosia [Cyprus' capital city] is the last divided city in the world," she said of the so-called Green Line splitting the city and the country in two to this day.

Both offstage and on, Tsangaris-Johnson is immersed in sharing the joy of music. Having studied music therapy at the Boston-based Berklee College of Music from 2004 to 2006, she works full-time at a Long Island school district in an early intervention program for children with special needs.

"My music comes from a place of survival," she said. "I need to express something."

Silverqueen is currently recording an album to be released independently this summer, and will perform her next gig at Bar East in Manhattan July 1 at 8:30 p.m. A single, entitled "November Child," is available for download via iTunes.
- Aol Patch


"Demolition: Silverqueen, Uprising"

"Silverqueen, Uprising "...this issue's column contains what certainly seems to be the finest pair of releases by area artists this year." "Who: Silverqueen is a Melville-based roots/pop vocalist who recently released this stunning new album of original songs; see this issue's "Long Island Spotlight" for a complete look at one of the most promising new artists in the region. Much like the aforementioned album, this is a wholly original, tuneful, heartfelt album that reveals an artist who has every quality needed for success in the music world: Great songwriting, fantastic arrangements, a heavenly voice, and a serious but sexy image. Don't expect mindless dance pop here- this is thought provoking, sincere, well-crafted, seriously intense music- as well as a complete and utter triumph. To Learn More About The Artist: Check out this issue's "Long Island Spotlight" for a look at this hot new vocalist and songwriter, then log on to silverqueenmusic.com for upcoming appearances and news." "
- Bob Smith, editor, Good Times Magazine (Sep 13, 2011) - Good Times Magazine


"Rick's Rising Stars: Silverqueen (live media)"

Performance & Interview at The Vibe Lounge, 9/30/10 - MyLITV, Fios 1 NY


"ReW & WhO w/ Silverqueen (live media)"

Performance & Interview at Otto's Shrunken Head NYC 12/28/11 - Rew Starr


Discography

November Child, single, 2010
Uprising, 2011

Photos

Bio

Silverqueen’s music is for lovers and fighters. Ethereal, moody and haunting, Silverqueen combines powerful vocals and lyrics with otherworldly sounds. The power of her music translates best during live performances where she has been known to bewitch and captivate audiences across New York City and the east coast with curious vocal looping and unpredictable guitar progressions. A big voice in a small body, this one-woman soldier truly is a force to be reckoned with. Check her out at www.silverqueenmusic.com