One of L.A.'s favorites, and it's no wonder why," is how Lisa Fox from Star 98.7 introduced Cindy Alexander to the sold out crowd at the Troubadour. It is rare that an artist has so much to offer her audience: talent, beauty, charisma, songs that people can't help but sing along with, and lyrics they want to quote to their friends.
Besides being crowned the L.A. Music Award's Outstanding Songwriter ('98) and nominated for Outstanding Female Artist, Cindy's debut CD See Red was also nominated for L.A. Music Awards1999 Indie Pop Album of the Year. She's been named one of L.A.'s Hottest Unsigned Bands by Music Connection, Best of Local Licks by K.L.O.S. 95.5, "Buzzing" by Hits Magazine, and has topped the charts at mp3.com, soundclick.com, and billboardtalent.net. Thanks to the world wide web, Cindy now answers fan mail from all over the world.
Born and raised in L.A., Cindy credits her parents for instilling within her the love of music when, at age six, they gave her the gift of piano lessons. In addition "my Grandma was a music teacher and, growing up, she would play the piano and I would sing," Cindy recalls. By age 12, Cindy was mentored by Nathan Lam, "vocal coach to the stars," and picked to record an album of children's music called "Regeneration" which was narrated by Ed Asner.
Throughout high school and college (Cindy is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of U.S.C.), Cindy continued to sing in choruses, and starred in dozens of plays and musicals, including regional theater in L.A. and San Francisco. After endless theatrical runs and some stints on T.V. and film, Cindy returned to her true love, music. "I found it so much more satisfying to write and perform my own material, and be myself."
In 1999, Cindy released her debut album, See Red, which she describes as "a collection of demos that I wrote over a three year period. It is a very personal record. Each song is like a polaroid of a particular point in my life." See Red was produced by Dave Darling (Boxing Gandhis/Meredith Brooks/Brian Setzer). Rave reviews have compared Cindy's work on See Red to Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morisette and Sarah McLachlan.
As one critic noted, "The lyrics on See Red are some of the finest we have seen in quite sometime. Cindy Alexander is a world class indie artist."
Cindy writes songs that are original, quirky, unflinchingly honest, and fun. With her smash Sick of Myself, Cindy has given teenagers a new anthem: "Thought it was you/ so I shut you out/ Thought it was them/ until I figured it out/ I screwed up everything and everybody else/ I am my nemesis/ I'm sick of myself." Time Falling Down and Better Than I Am are two pure and beautiful songs about love and desire, and both have been tapped by the film industry.
Time Falling Down appeared in the film The Giving Tree starring Christina Applegate and Molly Ringwald, and Better than I Am was featured in the trailer for 20th Century Fox's Here on Earth.
Cindy has shared the stage with national acts such as Vonda Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton, the Bacon Brothers, Tara MacLean, Lowen & Navarro and Dan Bern. She was one of the few artists chosen to perform on amp3.com's "Emerging Artist" stage at Woodstock '99.
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