Anna Nalick

All Music Guide:

Her love of the Cranberries, John Mayer, and Fiona Apple is easy to hear when one listens to the poignant music of singer/songwriter Anna Nalick, but it's her beloved Blind Melon that had the most impact on her career. The California native had been recording demos on a cheap cassette recorder when one of her tapes ended up in the hands of former Blind Melon members Christopher Thorn and Brad Smith. The two were now a production team and with Eric Rosse -- a producer who had worked with another Nalick fave, Tori Amos -- they re-recorded her home demos in a professional studio. Two weeks later, Columbia Records contacted Nalick with an offer and soon college was put on hold. With an all-star cast of studio musicians, the 20-year-old recorded her debut, Wreck of the Day, released in April of 2005. An expanded version of the album was released in 2006, with the Shine EP following in 2008.

Wikipedia:

Anna Christine Nalick (born March 30, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter. Her debut album, Wreck of the Day, featuring her first radio hit, "Breathe (2 AM)", was released on April 19, 2005. Nalick left her label under Sony in 2009 after a falling-out surrounding the release of her second album. On March 2, 2011, Nalick announced her new album Broken Doll & Odds & Ends to be released May 2011, but after several delays, the album was released on June 5.

Biography [edit]

Anna Nalick was born and raised in Temple City, California, and attended Holy Angels Grammar School in Arcadia before moving to Glendora with her parents at age 14.

A key memory of her childhood is the fifth grade math class where she would stop paying attention and instead rewrite the lyrics to a Cranberries song. She grew up in a family where two of the grandparents had performed on Broadway, and where her parents exposed her to a number of different artists, including Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin. Nalick also considers Billie Holiday, Jeff Buckley, John Mayer, U2, and Fiona Apple to be some of her early influences and inspirations. She also cited other influences as Tori Amos, Blind Melon, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, in a 2005 interview.

In another interview, Nalick recalls showing off her talents to her third grade teacher, who then remarked that she'd end up "one day on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Nalick did perform in 2005 on The Tonight Show, making sure to invite the teacher to the audience.

Nalick initially decided to go to college before pursuing her dream of music, continuing to record her songs on a Rainbow Brite cassette recorder. But she soon met a photography professor, who had a student with parents in the music business. Nalick agreed to pass along a low-fidelity six-song demo tape, and soon enough, was introduced to Christopher Thorn and Brad Smith, the founding members of Blind Melon now turned production team, as well as Eric Rosse, best known for his production work for Tori Amos. In October 2003, putting her college plans on hold, she signed on with Columbia Records. Nalick went into the studio with Thorn, Smith and Rosse as producers, together with mix-engineer Mark Endert (Fiona Apple, Maroon 5, and Gavin DeGraw). She recorded with a group of musicians that included Smith on bass, Thorn on guitar, Rosse and Zak Rae on keyboards, Lyle Workman and Stuart Mathis on guitar, Joey Waronker and Matt Chamberlain on drums. The result was her album Wreck of the Day, released two years later.

2004-2006: Wreck of the Day [edit]

Anna Nalick's first single from her Wreck of the Day album was "Breathe (2 AM)", which peaked at #45 U.S. and went 3x Platinum on the Billboard Hot 100, and went huge on Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40. It was heavily played on AAA and Hot AC stations across the U.S., along with light airplay on Pop stations, and Nalick became one of 2005's biggest newcomers. Her video for the track got very heavy airplay on VH1 and some MTV airplay as well. At the time of the writing, Wreck of the Day has sold over 615,000 copies with a gold certification from the RIAA, and a #20 peak on the Billboard 200. In New Zealand, Wreck of The Day reached the Top 15 albums on the Top 40 Albums Chart.

In the fall of 2005, Nalick released "In the Rough". The single was moderately successful, charting on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks at #15. Her album sales only slightly increased after the release of "In the Rough", perhaps because the previous single had been released almost a full year before.

Her first single from Wreck of the Day, "Breathe (2 AM)", experienced a resurgence on worldwide charts following a highly prominent appearance in a Grey's Anatomy episode (As We Know It), aired February 12, 2006. Other episodes of the show have featured the acoustic songs 'Catalyst' and 'Wreck of the Day' from the same album. The title track has also been featured on the show One Tree Hill.

In 2006, the album was re-released with three new songs and re-recording of the title track that was released as the album's third and final single. With little promotion and no video, the song only managed to chart on the Adult Top 40 spending two weeks at number 39 and one week at number 40 before falling off the chart.

In a September 2006 magazine interview, Britney Spears said she wished she had written Nalick's "Breathe (2 AM)". Two months later, Nalick took honors as "AC Female Artist of the Year" at the New Music Awards, beating out Sheryl Crow. According to her official website, Nalick was so convinced that Crow would win the award that she kicked back and relaxed, removing her shoes. When her name was called, she ran to the stage shoeless to make sure that she was able to have enough time for her acceptance speech.

A clip from the single, "Satellite" from Wreck of the Day is often played on the Satellite Sisters radio show. Wreck of the Day was also featured during Season 2, Episode 20 of the television show Joan of Arcadia.

2007-current: Shine - EP, Interruption, Comeback, Broken Doll & Odds & Ends [edit]

On May 11, 2007, the first indication of Nalick writing her second album appeared on her website. Few updates were given after that. The only other song to be released during this "era" was a track on the Desperate Housewives compilation CD entitled "Band of Gold".

On January 28, 2008, Nalick premiered her first single off the new album, "Shine", on AOL music's page. The EP "Shine" was released March 25, 2008. It featured the title single, a cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Breaking the Girl", and acoustic renditions of Nalick's best-known tracks.

On July 12, 2008, it was reported that Broken Doll was to be the title of Nalick's second album. The album was originally scheduled for release in the summer of 2008; however, a falling-out with Epic Records resulted in the album being scrapped. Little was heard from Nalick until the summer of 2010.

In August 2010, Nalick made a comeback announcement on her Facebook profile, accompanied by new photographs revealing a bold new look; it was revealed that she had left Sony in 2009 to be a free agent. At the time, she was making a record with producer Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift, Jewel), with an expected release date in 2011. On August 25, 2010, Nalick premiered a new song, "The Lullaby Singer", on her official website. Nalick held five live performances - Hotel Café in Hollywood, California, for August 31, September 21, September 28, and October 5, 2010, and 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, Tennessee, for September 9, 2010 - to accompany the comeback announcement.

On 2 March 2011, Nalick announced on her Facebook page the official name for the first upcoming album: Broken Doll & Odds & Ends, a little variation from the one she announced before. It had been set for release in May 2011, but several unforeseen difficulties resulted in delays. Broken Doll & Odds & Ends was released on iTunes on 5 June 2011, with physical CD release happening at her Hotel Café show on 3 August 2011.

Nalick performed on Good Day Sacramento, singing "Walk Away" in honor of the people who died in 9/11.

Nalick continues to work on her original material and co-write with other musicians, while taking classes at UCLA. On 23 February 2013 she served as the Grand Marshal for the 69th Annual Camellia Festival Parade in Temple City.