I started singing as soon as I could talk.  It soothed me. When I was five in Kindergarten they announced a talent show on the PA system.  As soon as class ended I went to the office to sign-up, then I went to the orchestra room and asked the conductor to accompany me.  I sang “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music and wore a little Swiss dirndl! Looking back,  I’m amazed that a shy kid was compelled to organize a performance at such a young age, but I’ve never forgotten how it felt to receive so much energy from the audience in our school auditorium that night; I guess it set the course for my life as a singer.

At fifteen I was competing at an All-State Choir audition when a judge and private voice teacher asked my choir director about me, and offered private voice lessons on a scholarship.  I studied with the kind and generous Shirley Wiess all through high school, then majored in voice & performance at the University of Texas, Austin, studying with Darlene C. Wiley. I loved singing rock & jazz as well as classical, so I dropped out of  UT’s strictly classical program at twenty to start singing professionally. After a successful run in a cabaret show in Austin, I moved to New York City and continued voice and performance studies with Broadway veteran Ellie Ellsworth. Around this time I also worked at the United Nations, at the off-Broadway Westside Arts Theater and apprenticed my way into a job as a recording studio engineer at Full House Productions. My time in NYC was fantastic, but at age thirty it was time for a change, so I moved to Colorado to finish my Bachelor’s Degree in Music at Naropa University, where I also hold a Bachelor’s Degree in The Psychology of Health & Healing.  Recently I’ve begun studying The Alexander Technique which is a great thing for singers… I’m very excited about it!  I’m also taking a break from performing live because I’m more drawn to writing and recording. I’ve been singing and teaching in Boulder for 18 years.

 

There have been so many amazing, happy and crazy  experiences performing through the years. Here are a few highlights-

- creating and leading the Linda Lewellyn Band for 5 years, doing dance & jazz repertoire in Denver/Boulder venues like The Hotel Boulderado, Redfish, The Brown Palace, Nissi’s, etc.

- 19  years singing and collaborating with Boulder’s beautiful singer/songwriter Rebecca Folsom, including a very cool night at Red Rocks one summer, a few stops at The Fox Theatre & KGNU

- 3 years as the lead singer & back-up vocal arranger with The Legendary 4-Nikators, hi-lighted by some wonderful nights at Boulder’s Band on the Bricks concert series and The Boulder Theatre

- 5 years with the internationally acclaimed Ars Nova Singers as a mezzo soprano soloist, culminating in an inspiring tour of central Europe in 1999, and singing Bill Douglas’ “Deep Peace” for the families at the Columbine High School memorial service

- back-up vocalist with Hazel Miller & Liza Oxnard on JJ Grey & Mofro’s “Country Ghetto” in 2007 on Alligator Records

- a few years with Zuba and Liza & the Soulstars, including one gig in New Orleans that started at 1:00 am and went to 4:00 am!

- writing & recording “Blind Eye” in 2004. It was played on the “No Man’s Land” show at preyinglizardmusic.com for a few years