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With her third album, BLUE VENUS, hot off the press, Joy Eden Harrison is taking a leap deeper into the territory between her 1930s style jazz roots and the electronic ambient sound of the 21st century.
Joy Eden Harrison's life and art is a seductive synthesis of the best of many eras. No suprise. Her family tree includes Hollywood screen writers from the 20's, composers from the 30's and writers from the 40's. As the only daughter born to two visual artists, Joy spent her early years in a one room artist's loft with her three brothers on the lower east side of New York City.
Her first exposure to music was listening to such legendary artists as Don Cherry, Sonny Terry, and Archie Shep perform at peace benefits in her parents New York studio. At the age of three she received her first acoustic guitar, starting her journey toward a career as a performing artist and song writer.
After studying jazz guitar and graduating from the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, she moved to Europe. Working as a painter's model by day and a street bard by night, Joy spent two years living on the fringe of Europe's thriving artist community. She came to be admired by a German promoter who booked her on a tour of cabarets and concert halls. One European critic called her "captivating and radiant...a musical delicacy."
Joy returned to Southern California, where she became a mainstay of the thriving San Diego singer-songwriter scene. It was in the midst of this vibrantly creative atmosphere that Joy was discovered by respected music figure Buddy Blue who in turn brought her to the attention of Bizarre/Planet Records. Bizarre was also responsible for launching the careers of Frank Zappa and Tom Waits. The label soon released Joy's critically aclaimed debut CD, "Angel Town", produced by Buddy Blue.
Her second CD, "Unspoken" was produced by Cindy Lee Berryhill and released on Astarte Records. This album earned her the 2002 IMA Best Jazz Artist Award. The judges included Tom Waits, Arturo Sandoval and Don Byron.
Joy's voice has been described as velvet, and her lyrics as sublime. her sound is smokey, silky, evocative, and smooth as fine scotch. She inherited her remarkable sense of lyrical cinematic imagery from her Great Aunt Anzia Yesierska, a famous Hollywood screenwriter of the 1920's. Her ability to capture the sensual and glamorous feel of the early decades of recorded music is a legacy left her by Milton Ager, her Great Uncle, co-writer of the classic 1930's hit "Happy Days Are Here Again."
Joy has two original songs in Hollywood films. The Love Beneath Your Lies is in the film "Curtain Call", starring Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Sam Shepard and James Spader. Marlene is in the film "Suicide Kings" starring Christopher Walken and Dennis Leary.
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