RENAISSANCE WOMAN:
Born in Munich, Germany, Leni started playing piano at the age of six and guitar at eleven. At seventeen, she formed her own acting company, and her radical productions sold out houses across Europe. In 1977, she turned her attention to music and left for the United States to study film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Scoring gave way to her love for guitar and in 1981, Leni moved to New York to play in a variety of rock and jazz bands. In 1983, she formed a group of her own with Paul Motion on drums and Bill Frisell on guitar. As a recording artist, she originally made a name for herself in jazz circles (her first nine albums were instrumental,) then crossed her talents over into the singer-songwriter realm, garnering consistent praise in the process. Critics have said her music incorporates “intelligent lyrics and beautifully drawn vignettes” (Washington Post), “crystalline, jazz-meets-blues guitar lines” (Guitar Player), and “thoughtful structure, evocative moods, attention to groove” (San Francisco Bay Guardian). A “Fleet and Lyrical guitarist”, (The New Yorker). “A Gifted Singer-Songwriter with a Wide-Ranging Sensibility and Sophisticated Guitar and Harmonic Chops” (The Boston Globe). Leni runs her own label, LSR/RED.

CHOPS:
Five consecutive wins of Gibson’s Female Jazz Guitarist of the Year might make anyone hunker down and focus on going ‘six for six’. But Leni Stern has always defied expectations, and her diverse, 20-year career in music is a textbook example of growth under a self-imposed fire. From the expert instrumentalist, a singer-songwriter emerged, with observations to share from her travels throughout the world. Stern adds: “Why deny the impulse to put words to these experiences? I couldn’t think of a reason.”

DIVERSITY:
With the 2005 release of ‘When Evening Falls’, Stern evoked recent travels to Kenya, India and New Orleans to deliver a haunting singer-songwriter album. Mix in her trademark bluesy guitar solos and the jazz-infused “On The Outside” and “Dancin’ With the Devil”, and a burst of creativity is revealed – ten songs which reflect an artist who has seen the world, experienced life, recorded 13 albums, and continues to grow.

Indeed, with the 2006 release of "Love Comes Quietly," Stern showcases her uncanny ability to paint extraordinary images amid familiar and exotic backdrops alike. The album opens with 'Cheyenne', a rumination on Native American culture, and the destruction and disrepair embodied by the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. Stern sings to an apparition, "all I'd ask for is water, send us water..." amid the haunting violins of Ernesto Villa-Lobos.

Now in 2007, the release of “Alu Maye (Have you heard)” boldly juxtaposes Stern's trademark inventive guitar and vocal explorations with the indigenous sounds of accomplished African instrumentalists and singers. The result is at once haunting, exuberant, cinematic, personal and resoundingly assured. Stern has discovered her surest artistic footing in the sahel and savanna of Africa. AllMusic's Thom Jurek has described Stern as "a musician of uncommon caliber and vision" -- her new EP is sure to validate such an assertion.

Also in 2007, 'AFRICA,' two years in the making, grew out of the 'Alu Maye (Have You Heard) sessions, integrating African and Western music forms with such authenticity that it may come to be regarded as an 'Audio Documentary' of African musical life. Recorded in Africa, playing with local musicians at the pace of life in Africa, Stern invites listeners to immerse themselves in African culture as she experienced it, first-hand.

Learning the keyboard while growing up in Gainesville, FL, Kirstin Candy had always been interested in learning how to play the piano. Inspired by Elton John, she began taking lessons and, after her family moved to California, she decided to become a concert pianist. Excelling at her attempts, she also garnered valuable singing experience in several choirs and music classes. After going to college and getting a degree in political science, she formed Circus Frequency and began playing around California. Still yearning to become a singer/songwriter à la Elton John, she left the group and began writing her own material. She sold music to several films and gigged regularly, eventually collaborating with producer Don Smith on her debut album, Another Sweet Mess. Released on Escalator Records, it came out in the summer of 2002.

Five albums later, Kirstin Candy has lived and breathed this industry. With a nationwide tour under her belt, airplay in dozens of cities, and sessions with the top names in the biz - the word is out on Candy's music. Out of her homebase in Santa Barbara, CA, Kirstin offers a fresh look at her songwriting, with "La Vie En Rouge", the latest and most profound work to date.