“Who is this Sheri Miller character, anyway”, you ask? Good question…read below for the dirt…um…facts on Sheri.
Q: Sometimes you seem to speak with slight traces of a Canadian, Northern Californian and deep Southern accent? Where are you originally from?
A: Actually, I was born and raised right by the beaches of Long Island, New York. So, I’m a full-blooded New Yorker, although my dad is from the deep South in Augusta, Georgia, which is James’ Brown’s hometown. My mom was an amazing opera singer, and growing up she’d sing these beautiful arias all the time, by Italian classical composers I can’t pronounce. My uncle, also is an accomplished recording engineer in LA, and he used to send me in the mail these hand-made mix tapes of Pink Floyd, Hungarian Gypsy Music, Diamanda Galas and Etta James. He also taught me how to illegally sneak in tape recorders to concerts, so I actually have an incredibly muffled version of Nina Simone’s last show in NYC at The Beacon Theater. So, I guess that qualifies me as a partial bad-ass, right? But anyway, I always was composing original songs as a child. We had an ivory-keyed upright brown piano in the den, where I wrote all my “masterpieces” (hahahaha! They were absurd songs actually).
Q: Was there a pivotal moment when you realized you wanted to be an artist and songwriter?
A: Hell, freaking yes! Actually this is a pretty magical, surreal and synchronicity-based story- completely true. And it honestly changed my life in one dramatic swoop! It happened one spring Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, when I was in school at Upenn. I had been writing songs in my tiny room for months, which was a 20-minute walk from the jazz music room, which had all the practice pianos. And I knew I was definitely not writing nearly enough because it was such a huge hassle to walk all those long street blocks downtown. Over the next couple of months, I started dreaming steadily at night, about keyboards, about buying a used keyboard. I clearly remember one Saturday night in particular, I had an extremely vivid dream about this small black, white and gray Casio keyboard. The next morning I woke up with the image of the keyboard still clear in my mind, and took a different more scenic route that day, through an underpass of green trees. So I’m walking, and there’s this one-day church sale, where they had the exact Casio keyboard I had dreamed of the night before. I tested it out with a Nintendo adaptor they had on hand, and it worked, though with a slight buzz! I quickly ran to the ATM, bought the keyboard for $20 and started seriously writing my songs on that sweet, broken-keyed, buzzing Casio from that day on. That one incident, I felt was like a gentle hand pushing me in a direction, like a tiny miracle.
Q: How did you develop your chops as a performing artist in New York?
A: Well, after college I moved back to New York, at first living with my parents for a minute, so I could afford to take private music lessons and not be completely homeless in the process. Then my sexy high school friends asked me to move into a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which served as a haven for free group sex, heroin, mojitos and Magnolia cupcakes for all the neighborhood (just kidding!!) While living there, I made steady rounds at local open mics like The Raven on Avenue C in the East Village, then hosted by Moldy Peaches. I obsessively, and joyfully practiced my acoustic guitar and keyboard for hours in the dank basement hobbit area in the Brooklyn apartment. I immersed myself futher in the poetry of Charles Bukowski, O. Henri, Marcel Proust, Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou (I was a poetry major in college). I melted into the amazing music of Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles, classical music, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Billie Holiday, The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan. I then moved to Senegal for 2 years, where I learned polyrhythmic drumming from Nairob Walla, and lived solely off mahi fish I caught in nets. Ok, the Senegal part is not exactly true, but I’ve always wanted to say I lived in Senegal…so forgive me!
Q: What venues have you played in around the U.S. and New York and how do you describe your music?
A: Well, I guess I’d say my music is a “sensual soundscape of hypnotic bluesy American soul meets classic British melodic-pop.” Hallelujah! Or people tell me I sound like Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles…so maybe I sound like “Sheryl Apple Dylan Beatle.” I’ve been pretty lucky so far, and I’ve played on the stages of The Bowery Ballroom, Joe's Pub, Hotel Cafe, World Cafe Live, B.B. King's, The Bluebird Cafe, The Canal Room and The Living Room. I also just released my new debut EP, “Mantra” recently and I’m really excited about that.
Q: How can I contact you to send you lavish free gifts and blank checks?
A: Well, you can message me directly here on myspace…I try my best to answer every email! You can also email me at info@sherimiller.com . If you’re short on free swag and blank checks this week, (we all are at times) please don't be shy and write me a comment or message! That would be great! Love you all, my lovelies!
"Most songwriters are lucky to discover their voice, but Sheri Miller has a variety to choose from. She manages to find the edge in even the most conventional emotions -- the flutter of desperation within devotion, the tug of self-doubt within conviction. Her singing conveys those subtleties and hints at deeper ones, all while never compromising the alluring surfaces of her songs. She makes a powerful first impression, and then, even better, a series of more complex and lasting ones."
- Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, ROLLING STONE
"New York City's best kept singer-songwriter secret."
-Tom Semioli, Amplifier Magazine
“A grown up soulful voice, top quality musicianship, excellent songwriting skills, and emotion destined to draw you in…Written, arranged, and performed superbly…Her energy burns bright for what I hope is a long and artful journey.” (Rating 4 stars)
-Mike Cavanuah, All Access Magazine
"New York singer/songwriter with a fine voice...impressive assemblage of songs, particularly the rock-edged "Waste My Breath" and pretty "The Blade."
-Ken Barnes, USA TODAY
"Sheri Miller delivers what so many only reach for: truly inspired, deeply personal, authentically original songs, delivered without pretense in a profound vocal style that transcends her young age. It's a rare gift to work with an artist of her caliber at the beginning of her career. Unless my long experience making records has taught me nothing, Sheri is someone we'll be listening to, and talking about, for a long, long time."
-Ted Spencer, Independent Engineer/Studio Owner
Credits: Shawn Colvin, Roberta Flack, Janis Ian, Art Garfunkel, Roseanne Cash
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