Album Notes

Raised in Chi-town and born into a musical family, Holly Long needled her parents into piano lessons on her Great-Grandmother’s upright Hamilton at age 7. As a young tyke she was exposed to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Elton John, Beethoven and the Beatles. Let us also not forget daily doses of “Free To Be You and Me” via her Dad’s HiFi stereo headphones. Influenced thusly, she spent her youth and early adult years constantly performing in various musicals, piano contests and plays.

After high school, Holly moved to California to attend UCLA as a Theater Major. She suddenly found herself scribbling lyrics on bar napkins and call-sheets for various acting gigs in an attempt to bring voice to what Hollywood wasn’t really supporting- her growing creative force. Three demo recordings at Randy Alpert’s SCREAM Studios, one indie record deal gone bust and countless local gigs later, Holly seemed to be just about ready to call herself a songwriter.

Then in late 1996, she was unexpectedly rushed to the hospital with what appeared to be an intense case of the Flu, but turned out to be the beginning of a two-year, life-changing odyssey. She fell into a coma and was hurriedly diagnosed with Endocarditis, a severe heart infection that threw her body into massive trauma. After a week of unconsciousness, she was lucky enough to awake and begin a slow process of recovery. She lost her hair, lost function of all her muscles and had to learn to walk all over again. Humbling, to say the least.

This severe shock to the system galvanized Holly’s musical focus. Her intense honesty, the feelings of longing and inspiration, and the drive to understand herself were the result of a “broken heart,” and became the seeds for her debut album, City Girl in 2000. Met with acclaim, Holly’s debut CD was created alongside Clio-award-winning producer and arranger Chris Horvath. Lucky Holly was also fortunate enough to enlist the talents of many well-respected musicians and industry veterans for this project.

The first effort was successful- so, in 2001, Holly again partnered with Horvath and released an EP entitled Six Sided Woman. These two recordings garnered her 3rd place in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest of 2000 and an Honorable Mention in the 2001 USA Songwriting Contest. Additionally, Holly’s songs have received feature film and TV placements…

Since then, Holly has given birth to her two children, a beautiful girl named Josephine and sweet baby boy, Truman. Their lives give a resounding sense of closure 10 years after Holly’s own brush with death. Fittingly, Jo also provided much of the inspiration for Holly’s third project and critically-received second CD- Every Little Seam- released in 2004. Truman has since been instrumental in molding Holly’s ever-changing voice and shines light on her current full-length album, Leaving Kansas, tracked and mixed in late 2006, to be released in Spring of this year.

Holly happily resides in Venice, CA and continues to wrangle the butterfly muse. Through therapy, yoga, and a little help from her friends, Holly performs with love and gratefulness and frankly digs the intimate coffeehouse setting far more than what any mega rock arena might provide. Were any such arena to be made available… For more, please check out www.hollylong.com. Peace love music.