The daughter of two schoolteachers, Angela taught herself to play piano in a house on twenty-four acres of evergreen forest in woefully rural western New York State. But, living idyllically in the middle of nowhere afforded little Angela the chance to throw herself headlong into the creation of what has become her own unique brand of piano-based, alternative soul-pop.
Giving up small town living for the unpredictability of the Big City, Angela moved to New York City to study music at NYU. While there, studying classical voice, she discovered that it was ultimately more fulfilling to sing her own words, so she began writing songs during the time that she was supposed to be practicing "Oh, dry the glist'ning tear".
The songs she began to write in hijacked college practice rooms became the foundation for her first album, "All About You". Self-produced, and recorded entirely at home, these eleven tracks include collaborations with some of the best musicians in the NYC music scene. The songs deal with everyday issues like disappointment and gratitude, self-doubt and self-indulgence, but mostly they revolve around a burning desire to answer the constant question, "What's next?"
Selected songs from "All About You" were awarded The Silver Award (Pop) at The Mid-Atlantic Songwriter's Awards, garnering the interest of Random Chance Records, who licensed "All About You" and made it available worldwide through City Hall Records. The album has also, just recently made the top 25 Jazz Pop all-time best sellers on CDBaby.com.
Now making the rounds in New York, this bright new buzz artist has had her music featured on NPR's 'Open Mic' program, popular indie radio stations such as NextBigHit.com, Harris Radio, Radio Crystal Blue, and Nefarious Bovine Radio in NYC, and has performed on the popular television show "Poughkeepsie Live". She has also performed at various NYC venues such as Caffe Vivaldi, Rockwood Music Hall, Mo Pitkins, The Sidewalk Cafe, Googie's Lounge, The Cutting Room, The New Leaf Cafe, Pete's Candy Store, Kenny's Castaways, The C-Note and Alphabet Lounge, showcased at various conferences and festivals including Diversafest, Millennium Music Conference and the Dewey Beach Chickfest, and has held solo tour dates at numerous venues in cities across the country. In April - June of 2007, Angela teamed up with fellow Brooklyn-based songstresses Gretchen Witt and Luciar to succesfully tour with "Oh, Sweet Indie!".
A recent review on TheRedAlert.com states, "If Tori Amos is the standard that all aspiring female piano pop artists will need to live up to, then Ortiz does not have a problem living up to these standards; in fact, she rises above them."
And she's just getting started.
She is currently in the studio working on material for her sophomore album with producers Sammy Merendino (Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Joan Osborne, Sophie B. Hawkins, Billy Joel), and Bill Wittman (Cyndi Lauper, The Outfield, The Fixx, The Hooters, Patty Smith).
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