Holly Figueroa

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Holly Figueroa entered college with the full intent of leaving her musical ambitions behind and becoming a doctor instead. Things didn't work out the way she planned. Figueroa was raised in a small town outside of Toledo, OH. In the middle of her high school years, she became a member of a youth choir that gave her a chance to perform and tour through Europe. She was already deeply into writing songs by then. After graduation, she was awarded a partial music scholarship to Ohio State. It wasn't very long before she switched to pre-med, looking for a more realistic career. During her years in college, Figueroa supported herself by working as a portrait photographer and a nursing assistant. Music was still in her blood though, so she also found work as a karaoke jockey and a backup singer for some bands in Columbus. A pleasurable complication, a new husband and a daughter, caused her to leave med school behind. After some enjoyable time as a stay-at-home mother, Figueroa was drawn back to the world of music. She began writing songs with artists like Jake Thompson and Ray Fairbanks. In 1998, Figueroa completed her debut album, Three Chord Plea. Some of the tracks fans can find on this first offering are "I Don't Know You," "Passed," "Heat of the Day," and "A Thousand Times." That same year, Figueroa started an organization called Indiegirl for independent female artists. She also began touring throughout the United States, appearing on stage with artists such as Barbara Kessler, Caroline Aiken, Colleen Sexton, Jonathan Kingham, and others. Figueroa's music, a heady mixture of blues, folk, rock, and even now and then a hint of jazz, has caught the attention of many music critics and earned her interviews in papers and magazines like Billboard, Seventeen, the Hartford Advocate, and the Los Angeles Times.