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Classically trained in both voice and harp, Gillian departed from her traditional music background and began writing original songs while living abroad in Switzerland during her sophomore year of high school. Upon returning to the States, she graduated high school a year early and turned down conservatory acceptances to dive head first into the Philadelphia singer-songwriter circuit. Gillian was booked on the spot after playing a song at The Point’s open mic – her first public performance of original material – and quickly became a local favorite.

Since then, she has independently released two critically acclaimed recordings, her 2005 EP To an Unwitting Muse and 2007’s Serpentine, which Music for America hailed as “an album that belongs on every critic’s top-ten list not only for the year, but for the decade.” Both sold out of their original pressings. Of her live performance, Grammy-winner Marc Cohn has said: “After hearing only one song, I became an instant Gillian Grassie fan. It’s rare to hear a young singer with such control and understated soulfulness, and even more rare to hear a harp provide such a deep percussive groove. I was immediately captivated by her sound.”

She has toured at premier listening rooms along the East Coast and throughout the Southern U.S., including The Tin Angel, World Café Live, Eddie’s Attic, Appel Farm, The Carrollton Station, The Living Room, and The Bitter End, and has been selected to perform at several music festivals, including WXPN’s XPoNential Music Festival, Musikfest, and the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, where she debuted at the tender age of fourteen. Gillian has worked with many artists, including John Legend and Jim Boggia, and her song “Silken String” finished second in the 2008 New York Songwriters Circle Competition. She was most recently awarded a Watson Fellowship, which will take her and her harp through Germany, France, India, Indonesia, China and Japan for a year-long study of the relationships between new technologies and independent music scenes around the globe.

Gillian Grassie is a Philadelphia native. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2009 with a degree in Comparative Literature.

PRESS QUOTES:

“After hearing only one song, I became an instant Gillian Grassie fan. It’s rare to hear a young singer with such control and understated soulfulness, and even more rare to hear a harp provide such a deep percussive groove. I was immediately captivated by her sound. I’d love to have her open some shows for me. I’m sure my audiences will be captivated by her too.” –Grammy-winner, Marc Cohn

“[Grassie] seems to have one thing most of her contemporaries lack, the ability to turn seemingly insignificant events, such as throwing up at a party, into songs worthy of everyone’s attention. Her lethal combination of melody, introspection and deeply personal lyrics places her high in the running for first in the “next big thing” category.” -Origivation Magazine

“Forget for a moment Grassie's dulcet harp work. She writes haunting, well-crafted songs and sings them in that lustrous voice.” -David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer

“[Serpentine is] an album that belongs on every critic’s best of list not only for the year, but for the decade.” -Music for America

“For pop fans with a craving for something a little different, Serpentine is a treat.” -Philadelphia CityPaper

“…flaunts harp convention with a sassy assuredness.” -The Intelligencer

“Superb!” -TAXI

“…she makes [the harp] sound like any string instrument that has been a part of pop and rock for the last 50 years.” -Music For America

“Her music deftly blends jazz, pop, folk and rock with mesmerizing effectiveness, with forays into techno and even bossa nova further blurring the boundaries of tradition.” -The Intelligencer

“…the harp in this context is simply exciting.” -TAXI

“…an innovator par excellence. She is a harpist/singer/songwriter who is bringing the harp into the 21st Century.” -Ticket Magazine

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