Breakout singer-songwriter Elza sets the emotional tone for ABC-TV News mini-series Hopkins

June 26, 2008 - PRLog -- With compelling commercials currently airing on ABC-TV to promote its upcoming documentary mini-series, "Hopkins", the buzz is growing around 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 frequently viewed commercial 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 Café 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."  

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, and the tireless efforts of her friend and publicist, Chris Ann McBrysan, 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.

Instrumentation
Elza tours primarily solo, however her full band consists of:
Jeff Eyrich, acoustic bass
Doug Yowell, drums and percussion
Robin Macatangay, guitar
Thad DeBrock, electric guitar
Rob Arthur, keyboards

Discography
2008: Gettin' Free - BePop Records
2003: Wide Open
2001: Elza  -  iTunes download only

For more information about Elza, please visit her website at www.elzamusic.com or her MySpace page, www.myspace.com/elzamusic.  Preview copies of her new CD, "Gettin’ Free" on the BePop Records label, are available at www.amazon.com , www.iTunes.com  and www.cdfreedom.com.   For interviews or questions, contact Kurman Communications, Inc. at 312-651-9000 or visit http://gotbuzzatkurman.blogspot.com.

# # #

Kurman Communications, Inc. is a world leader in lifestyle public relations and marketing. Media strategists. Cutting-edge creativity. Out-of-the-box thinking. Word-of-mouth marketing experts. www.kurman.com and http://gotbuzzatkurman.blogspot.com