/24-7PressRelease/ - New York, NY, June 28, 2008 - With compelling commercials currently airing on ABC-TV to promote its upcoming documentary mini-series, "Hopkins", the buzz is growing around the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, Elza, whose twelve original songs—written, composed and performed by Elza—will be featured in this high profile network mini-series. Elza's song "Everything to Me" is featured on the commercials as well.
"Hopkins" is a six-part documentary miniseries revolving around the lives of men and women who work at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The series premieres Thursday, June 26 at 10 p.m. EDT (9 p.m. CDT) and will continue to run for five subsequent Thursdays.
Twelve of Elza's songs from her albums "Elza", "Wide Open" and "Gettin' Free" are featured on the mini-series. Elza's soulful, acoustic guitar-centric songs form a down-to-earth, compassionate musical tapestry that complements the daily struggles and heroic efforts of the doctors highlighted on "Hopkins."
This spotlight on Elza's singing and songwriting boosts her status as a uniquely gifted talent. During the past several years, her reputation as both a songwriter and performer has been growing within pop music circles. She is a two time recipient of the ASCAP Plus Awards, 1st place winner of the 2005 International Broadjam Songwriting Competition, and finalist in both the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the Billboard World Song Competition. Elza's music is also not new to television: she has been featured on numerous network series including the WB Smallville, ABC and NBC.
For this rising star performer, Elza's visibility has been atypically high. She kicked off her first nationwide tour in front of an audience of 15,000 as a featured new artist at The Marin Music Festival opening for Bob Weir; she closed the tour opening for Atlantic recording artist Martin Sexton in New York.
Elza has played such legendary stages as the Bluebird Caf in Nashville, Eddie's Attic in Atlanta, Winterfolk Festival in Toronto, Sweetwater in San Francisco, The Mint in Los Angeles, The Clearwater Music Festival in New York as well as Makor, The Oak Room, The Livingroom, The Towne Crier and The Bitter End, to name only a few. This year she completed an extensive national college tour, shot a TV Pilot with Andi Vargas of Santana, opened for Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship at The Tarrytown Music Hall and finished recording her new CD "Gettin' Free."
Elza's musical involvement with "Hopkins"
Elza's musical involvement with "Hopkins" actually began several years ago when the mini-series' producer, Terry Wrong, heard Elza play a club in New York City. "I was very struck by her unique voice and how much searing confessional was in the lyrics," he said. "We stayed in touch from time to time, but it takes me years sometimes to complete a project. When my latest project came to fruition and it was time to select music, Elza was high on the list. With the help of the web it was easy to locate her and find out she was doing well and still a vibrant part of the singer-songwriter music scene."
Elza finished her latest CD only a few weeks before she and her husband gave birth to identical twin baby girls. Her new CD, "Gettin' Free" on the indie label BeBop Records, includes some of the songs heard on "Hopkins". A preview version is available at major online retailers such as amazon.com, iTunes.com and cdfreedom.com. "The CD is being distributed independently and we're still looking to find a home for it with a major record label," says Elza.
Music industry critics and promoters have been very praiseworthy of Elza
• Guitar Magazine founder Don Menn said, "Her songs are addictive, her charm infectious and her voice, well....you'd have to hear it to believe it. Live, she's the second coming of Joni."
• Walter Yetnikoff, former president of CBS Records, said, "Elza is one of the best and sexiest live performers I've seen in a long time."
• The Acoustic Radio Sampler said, "....a voice that is unmistakable. 'Everything To Me' is a song that seems destined to be played on stations all over the world. It has a great pop hook...."
• Dale Hill from Music Connection Magazine said, "Elza's songs are heartfelt, catchy and very well performed. The quality of her voice and her abilities as a musician will definitely set her apart as an artist to watch for."
• George Fltecher of Rhythm & News Magazine said, "Elza has the gift for creating instantly recognizable pop tunes that stay with you long after the CD stops spinning. Her track 'Everything To Me' is a winner just waiting for a race."
• Intown Magazine of Westchester, NY said, "Elza has all the elements of a genre bending, international star. We feel it's only a matter of time until her stars align."
• Phil Ciganer, owner of the Towne Crier Caf in Pawling, New York where Elza has often played said, "She's a first-rate songwriter with a very strong stage presence and she's as talented as she is beautiful."
Elza: Artistic profile
As an artist, Elza's music is as unique as her name. Drawing from a diverse palette of blues, jazz and folk-rock, she has created her own distinctive sound which she likes to call "Acoustic-Soul." On stage, she possesses that rare ability to be creatively adventurous and emotionally vulnerable. She attributes her disarming combination of inner strength and openness to her unusual childhood.
She grew up traveling back and forth between her father's home in Frankfurt, Germany and her mother's home in Charleston, SC. Elza's father, a German abstract mathematician and musician, insisted she learn to read music before learning to read words and, as a result, she gained a love and fluency with music at a very early age. Elza's mother, an unconventional visual artist and international traveler, exposed Elza to art, language, music and many cultures, all of which fostered her love of adventure.
In South Carolina she was heavily influenced by the live jazz, blues, gospel and bluegrass that her parents would take her to see at the annual Spoleto Festival. "I feel so lucky that as a very young girl I got to experience live shows with artists as diverse as Tito Puente, the Indigo Girls, Philip Glass, Rambling Jack Elliot, Yo-Yo Ma and a few rock concerts for good measure," says Elza. "When I turned 14 I traded my flute in for a guitar and began playing and writing songs."
After graduating high school Elza moved to New York City on a scholarship to study opera and, after an intense study program in Italy, she decided to follow her true passion, and become a singer-songwriter. Embarking on this rewarding but risky journey, she began to pave her musical path by connecting with audiences one show at a time.
Elza recounts the giddy humor of her initial efforts to book performances: As a struggling artist in her early twenties, she would book gigs for herself by posing as the fictional booking agent "Lisa Lucas of Lucas Artist Management." Elza would don a realistic British accent and call booking agents as the charming though fictitious talent agent Lisa Lucas. It wasn't long before her efforts resulted in a continuous stream of live performances in clubs, colleges and music festivals around the country. "Though those days are over," Elza says, smiling, "some festival bookers still ask about Lisa to this day."
"For my new album, "Gettin' Free", I wanted to capture the struggles and the joys of finding my own artistic truth," she says. "I think being on the road helped me find myself artistically and define what I wanted to create in the recording studio so when I teamed up with veteran producer Jeff Eyrich at Bennett Studios the results were magical."
With a world-class voice and melodies that you will hum for days, Elza is one of those special artists that touches her audience with the first note and holds them spellbound. Although she has shared the stage with Grammy Award winning artists, she remains a very fresh and down to earth woman who never hesitates to give back.
Elza has volunteered to perform at numerous benefits including W.H.Y. World Hunger Year, Swim Across America for Cancer Research, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Starbuck's Earthday, the Make a Wish Foundation and Operation Smile. She is passionate about her artist mentoring program, which she organizes and leads from her home in Connecticut.
Instrumentation
Elza tours primarily solo, however her full band consists of:
Jeff Eyrich, acoustic bass Thad DeBrock, electric guitar
Doug Yowell, drums and percussion Robin Macatangay, guitar
Rob Arthur, keyboards
Discography
2008: Gettin' Free - BePop Records
2003: Wide Open
2001: Elza - iTunes download only
About the television mini-series "Hopkins"
Nearly eight years after the critically acclaimed series, "Hopkins 24/7," ABC-TV News returns to Baltimore's John Hopkins Hospital for a new documentary series entitled "Hopkins." This six-part program, which begins on Thursday, June 26 (10 p.m. EDT/ 9 p.m. CDT) takes viewers inside the legendary hospital to meet patients in the throes of medical crises and young doctors forced to make life and death decisions on the fly, while struggling to keep their personal relationships from unraveling. Shot in high definition with unparalleled access for over four months, "Hopkins" offers an intimate portrait of the men and women who call this hospital home.
For more information about Elza, please visit her website at http://www.elzamusic.com or her MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/elzamusic. Preview copies of her new CD, "Gettin' Free" on the BePop Records label, are available at http://www.amazon.com , http://www.iTunes.com and http://www.cdfreedom.com.
For media requests, booking and TV/film licensing, please contact Cindy Kurman or Lee Barrie at Kurman Communications, Inc., by telephone at (312) 651-9000 or by email at prcindy@kurman.com or lbarrie@kurman.com. Elza is a Tribes Hill Artist (www.tribeshill.com). For more information on "Hopkins" and Elza's music featured on the show, visit http://hopkins.abcnews.com.
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Editor's note: To arrange interviews, media appearances or live in-studio performances by Elza, please contact Cindy Kurman, Lee Barrie or Catherine Patterson at Kurman Communications, Inc. Please call them at (312) 651-9000 or send an email to the entire Kurman team: kurmanstaff@kurman.com. To view video footage of Elza, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYMg7hkIGQ. Broadcast quality video footage is available upon request. To download high resolutions photos, please visit http://kurman.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=542350. Please visit the Kurman blog at http://gotbuzzatkurman.blogspot.com.
Media Contact:
Kurman Communications, Inc.
Cindy Kurman/Lee Barrie/Catherine Patterson
(312) 651-9000
kurmanstaff@kurman.com
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