ALTERNATIVE NEO-SOUL SINGER SONGWRITER, A LONGTIME FIXTURE ON THE ARTS SCENE IN SAN FRANCISCO, IS 'LOVING LIFE' WITH THE RELEASE OF HER DEBUT CD PRODUCED BY NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN, THE FIVE TIME GRAMMY WINNER WHO HAS WORKED WITH WHITNEY HOUSTON, MARIAH CAREY, ARETHA FRANKLIN
The Multi-Talented Vocalist, Poet And Former Member of Techno Band The Riots, Was One Of The Most Added Artists—Along With Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift and Pink—on FMQB's AC40 Chart With Her Debut Single "Green Caddie"
Kaylah Marin (www.kaylahmarin.com) wrote "Loving Life," the soulful and soaring title track to her recently released breakthrough album, as a tribute to the artistic group of friends she grew up with in the Bay Area who were finally living their dreams of having a family, making music and dancing onstage in New York.
Considering the great fortune that's been coming her way, the alt-R&B/neo-soul singer/songwriter, who recently relocated from her hometown of San Francisco to Los Angeles, can't help but Loving Life these days. After years of applying her multitude of creative talents
to a series of wildly diverse creative endeavors—from being lead singer in a techno band, The Riots, to co-founding the non-profit dance, music and theatre company The Butterfly Project—Kaylah is relishing the opportunity to at last pursue her career as a solo artist.
"The eleven songs on the album emerged from a long year of not knowing what direction to take my creative life in, and finally having the opportunity to do what I was meant to do and truly live my art," Kaylah says.
After recording preliminary tracks for the album with producers Jeff Watson (guitarist for Night Ranger) and Joey P. (engineer for Ludacris), Kaylah hooked up with five time Grammy award winning producer Narada Michael Walden to refashion eight of her songs and start three more from the ground up. Walden, who has scored #1 hits with legendary divas Whitney Houston ("How Will I Know"), Mariah Carey ("I Don't Wanna Cry") and Aretha Franklin ("Freeway of Love"), added what Kayla calls "soul and rhythm and helped me grow as a vocalist" as the two worked on "Loving Life," "Oh Baby Please (Make Love To Me On The Floor)" and the collection's first single "Green Caddie."
"Green Caddie," an old school brassy funk tune inspired by Kaylah's late uncle who drove a green Cadillac, is quickly becoming a hit on the FMQB AC40 airplay chart, where it recently climbed fomr #89 to #64 in a single week on the strength of a 97 spin increase. It was one of the most added tracks that week alongside cuts by Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz, Taylor Swift and Pink.
Walden says, "Kaylah is my Sista with a poetic license to sing her heart out and make believers in this new world of Freedom and Obama Nation lovers. I feel very happy I have had the opportunity to work with Kaylah. We didn't fight once. We laughed a lot and even wrote a couple of smashes!"
Beyond having the chance to work with the legendary producer and make a quick splash at radio, there are many other reasons for Kaylah to be Loving Life these days. She worked with French filmmaker Laurent LeGall to produce her first video for "Loving Life," an inspirational clip that was chosen as one of three (of the hundreds made) for inclusion in the sanctioned documentary of President Barack Obama's race for the White House.
Kaylah is working with Billboard's #1 DJs the Perry Twins (Kristine W., Expose's Gioia Bruno, Erin Hamilton and Alyson) and producer Quinn Coleman to create dance remixes of her tracks "Oh Baby Please," "Everybody" and "Crushin'" for dance radio airwaves. The singer also scored music for the award winning documentary "Texas Gold" and did the voiceover and score for "Just Children," winner of four international film festival awards, in addition to composing an original song for inclusion in "Eye of The Storm," a CD that raised funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina victims.
"I know it's almost a given for performers that come out of the San Francisco scene to be political in their songs," Kaylah says, "but my goal is always to write songs that are poppy and fun to listen to, simple and palatable but come from a deeper place inside me. I know I've written a good song when the lyric lines fit perfectly with the melody and my original concept, and when I can hum the melody and still feel the feeling of the line. But I really know it's working when I perform it and people are moved. I'm at my best creatively when I keep myself open, and that's why I love collaborating with other writers and producers. It's fun being part of that collective energy."
On the live performance side, the singer recently headlined on the Soul of Pride at African Diaspora Stage & Village at the massive two day 2009 San Francisco Gay Pride event. Leading up to her move to Los Angeles, she began performing regularly at Mi Alma in Silver Lake after several years of regular performances at Bay Area hotspots like The Butterfly, The Fillmore, El Rio and The Air Lounge and gigs at the Christmas Tree Lighting at Jack London Square and the Women Who Jam event put on by the National Association of Black Female Executives. She has also performed around the country for an organization called College Expo, which helps educate minority students about educational opportunities.
Kaylah first began writing and performing as a child with her Guatemalan-born father, jazz saxophonist Philip Marin, who instilled in her a love of music and dance rich within her Central American (Garifuna) roots. He would take Kaylah to hear the many local jazz bands that dotted San Francisco's streets, and she first performed with him by joining whatever house band he was jamming with at the time. Her chosen instrument was the guitar, which her mother, an educator and lover of the arts, had given her when she was four.
As a teenager, she performed professionally with techno band The Riots at clubs like the Digital Be In in San Francisco. "One," a song the group recorded with European group Tribeca, won the Future Music Magazine Demo of the Month; the track "XOn the Beach," by Sir Vere, also featuring Kaylah's passionate vocals, played all over the clubs of Ibiza and was a huge hit at the Manumission. Taking a temporary break from the electronic world, the singer founded with Jalila Bell a non-profit dance, music and theater company, The Butterfly Project, which was dedicated to promoting positive images of women in the arts. Later, she joined another band, the hybrid Hip-Hop/jazz/classical outfit SoulogRaphy.
Kaylah was still scattering her energies a few years back when her mom was stricken with cancer and she began making the kinds of life altering decisions that this kind of challenge always sparks. She was still working a day job in the tech world when Laurie Andrewson, a friend of Kaylah's best friend's mom as far back as Kaylah's high school days, decided to invest in the singer's career. Andrewson had first heard her sing at a retreat up in the Russian River area years before and had always encouraged Kaylah's musical aspirations. Now she was actually funding her first project. Andrewson, along with company Epiphany Productions, is credited as Executive Producer of Loving Life.
"Laurie always believed in me and loved my music," says Kaylah, "but I was never able to turn my dream a reality until she raised money to make my first recording project possible. Right now, I am enjoying all the possibilities that are coming my way and am grateful there are so many people who want to hear what I'm doing and who want to give my songs a home. I could seriously write poetry and write and record music all day, and have worked hard to overcome my shyness onstage. Performing is religion to me in the sense that I have to get out of myself to do it, get out of my head, let go and just trust and open up to the audience. I look forward to more opportunities to do just that. I am truly Loving Life.
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For more information on KAYLAH MARIN, contact:
Steve Levesque or Tasya Swisko at Luck Media & Marketing, Inc. at (818) 760-8077
info@luckmedia.com, www.luckmedia.com, www.kaylahmarin.com and www.myspace.com/kaylahmarin
