Album Notes

Shawna Miller is a singer and songwriter from Northern California who specializes in jazz, funk, blues, and r&b vocal styles. In 1995, Shawna began her first four years of private vocal coaching, followed by her enrollment in the Jazz department at Sonoma State University in 1998. As a jazz major, she studied Jazz theory and improvisation, later going on to study with a professional opera singer and Classical Indian singer. After earning her BA in Music with a concentration on voice, Shawna began teaching private vocal lessons at Stanroy Music Center in Santa Rosa, CA. From 1998 to 2004,she sang backup with the Roots Reggae band, Groundation. In her six years of singing with Groundation, Shawna had the opportunity to perform with legendary artists such as Gregory Isaacs, Marcia Higgs, Pato Banton, Don Carlos of Black Uhuru, Apple Gabriel of Israel Vibrations, and the Wailers. During her ten years of performing on stage professionally, Shawna has explored the genres of Jazz, Blues, R&B, Funk, Motown, Rock-n-Roll, Reggae, Bluegrass, Classical Indian, Baroque, and Chamber music. Her outlook on singing includes the voice as an equal instrument in improvisation, which stems from her background in jazz. Shawna is currently involved in four projects, including a motown/funk/r&b cover band called Cloud Nine, a jazz big band called the Moonlighters, her new original group called Shawna Miller and the Cats, who's new album, Material Ghost, just released in March of 2008, and the original pop-rock-jam band, Plum Crazy. With Plum Crazy, Shawna has had the opportunity to share the stage with artists such as Garaj Mahal, the Mother Hips, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Tea Leaf Green, and Melvin Seals and the Jerry Garcia Band. Shawna's passion for composing music takes her beyond just singing. Her love for R&B, Drum n' Bass, Reggae, Hip-Hop, and Jazz inevitably finds its way into her Cats compositions. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/shawnamillerband