Julia Rachel Cumming (born January 16, 1996) is an American singer-songwriter who is the frontwoman and bass player of the
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
-based band
Sunflower Bean
Sunflower Bean is an American rock band from Glen Head, New York and Brooklyn founded in 2013. The band consists of Julia Cumming (bass, lead vocals), Nick Kivlen (guitars, backing vocals), and Olive Faber (drums). Their most recent album ''Headf ...
. Cumming models occasionally, and has modeled for several well known designers and has appeared in global campaigns for H&M and Diesel. Cumming is also a political activist and is active in the
Model Alliance
The Model Alliance is a New York-based advocacy group focused on research and policy for models and others employed in the fashion industry. Founded in February 2012 by model Sara Ziff along with support from others models, the Model Alliance i ...
. She has produced and directed a video featuring her fellow models, encouraging young people to become politically active.
Early life
Cumming was born in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
to Alec Cumming and Cynthia Harden, who (at the time) were a creative partnership as well as a marital one - writing, performing, and releasing songs in the alternative pop band Bite The Wax Godhead (1990-1998). Julia grew up in the
East Village, Manhattan, attended New York City public schools, and started a band -
Supercute!
Rachel Sage Piña-Trachtenburg (born December 10, 1993), professionally known as Rachel Trachtenburg, is an American musician and singer. She is most notable for her key role as drummer and backup vocalist of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Pl ...
- along with neighborhood friends June Lei and
Rachel Trachtenburg
Rachel Sage Piña-Trachtenburg (born December 10, 1993), professionally known as Rachel Trachtenburg, is an American musician and singer. She is most notable for her key role as drummer and backup vocalist of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Pl ...
(of the
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players were an American indie-rock/art pop family band. It consisted of main vocalist Jason Trachtenburg, his wife Tina, and their only child, Rachel.
Overview
The band's members consisted of father, Jason T ...
) in 2009. Supercute!, a bubblegum-girl-group-psychedelic-pop amalgam, created (in Cumming's words) "ukulele
rock operas"; the band lasted through 2013 with Cumming and Trachtenburg serving as their creative core.
"It was almost an art project about not letting your age or being a girl stop you from trying anything," Julia told the ''New Musical Express'' in 2016. Cumming and Trachtenburg also co-hosted a talk show (''Pure Imagination'', 2011-2013), on the Progressive Radio Network, aimed at encouraging fellow teens to become involved in art and political action.
In 2014, Cumming graduated as a
vocal music
Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with musical instruments, instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which ...
student at
Professional Performing Arts School
The Professional Performing Arts School, colloquially known as PPAS, is a public middle and high school in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.
History
PPAS was created in 1990 to meet the needs of two groups of students: those who wanted t ...
, made her acting debut in the movie short ''People Who Don't Know Me'', and performed solo gigs with original musical material at local clubs. She also interned at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, where she curated an off-site show about
instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
art. There she met choreographer Dean Moss, who cast her for a leading role in his dance piece ''johnbrown'', which debuted at
The Kitchen on October 16, 2014.
Musical influences
"When I was a really little kid," Cumming told the ''New York Times,'' "my parents had a
VHS tape called 'Glam Rock.' It was about 15 songs of
Gary Glitter
Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he w ...
,
T. Rex and
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
, and I watched it every day until it broke." She has said that other influences include
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
and
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
,
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
,
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
,
Fat White Family
Fat White Family are an English rock band, formed in 2011 in Peckham, South London.
History
The band, fronted by Southampton-born and Cookstown-raised Lias Kaci Saoudi, formed in 2011. Lead guitarist Saul Adamczewski was previously the frontman ...
,
Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
,
The Kinks,
Cate Le Bon,
Mr Little Jeans
Monica Birkenes, better known by her stage name Mr Little Jeans, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter living in Los Angeles, California. She has released two studio albums: ''Pocketknife'', in 2014 and ''Better Days'' in 2022.
The pseudonym Mr Lit ...
,
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
,
Kate Nash,
New York Dolls
New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...
,
Plastic Ono Band,
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...
,
The Sex Pistols
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,
Tina Weymouth and
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talkin ...](_blank)
,
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...
,
The Waitresses and
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
.
Sunflower Bean
![Sunflower Bean](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Sunflower_Bean.jpg)
In August 2013, Cumming joined guitarist Nick Kivlen and drummer Olive Faber in
Sunflower Bean
Sunflower Bean is an American rock band from Glen Head, New York and Brooklyn founded in 2013. The band consists of Julia Cumming (bass, lead vocals), Nick Kivlen (guitars, backing vocals), and Olive Faber (drums). Their most recent album ''Headf ...
, a
power trio
A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...
initially based in
Glen Head, New York that had started off a spin-off of the band ''Turnip King''. In the following year, the band moved to
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...
and became a part of the borough's thriving "DIY" scene, playing over eighty shows that year and earning themselves title of New York City's "hardest-working band of 2014". The band's appearance at the 2014
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
Music Marathon received good notices from
All Songs Considered's
Bob Boilen and from
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
's
Jon Pareles, who wrote "New York is still home to bands as varied as Sunflower Bean, whose music suggests what might have happened if psychedelia had emerged after punk and the Police rather than before."
The band recorded their debut EP ''Show Me Your Seven Secrets'' (initially self-released on January 27, 2015) and was signed to
Fat Possum Records later that year. The album ''Human Ceremony'' was released on February 5, 2016, garnering largely positive reviews;
"I Was a Fool", the first single released from Sunflower Bean's second album
''Twentytwo In Blue'', debuted on
NPR's "Songs We Love" series on November 3, 2017. ''Twentytwo In Blue'' was released on March 23, 2018 by
Mom + Pop Music
Mom + Pop Music is a New York City-based independent record label whose current roster includes Courtney Barnett, Madeon, Tom Morello, Porter Robinson, Tycho, Tash Sultana, Sunflower Bean, Beach Bunny, Caamp, Del Water Gap and more. Founder an ...
in the U.S. and Lucky Number Music worldwide.
She has collaborated with other artists and appeared on the
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...
album
The Ultra Vivid Lament
''The Ultra Vivid Lament'' is the fourteenth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 10 September 2021 through Columbia Records.
Preceded by two supporting singles, "Orwellian" and " The Secret He Ha ...
in 2021.
Modeling career
Although Cumming had done occasional modeling jobs in the Supercute! era, her fashion career was bolstered in February 2014, when she was asked to walk in
Yves Saint Laurent's Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2014 show in Paris. Saint Laurent's creative director
Hedi Slimane signed the musician to an exclusive modeling contract, using her in three campaigns and in six shows for Saint Laurent; Cumming was frequently referred to as "Hedi Slimane's muse" in the press at the time.
Since then, she has modeled for
Anna Sui,
Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was a fashion designer from an Italian aristocratic background.
She created the house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, which she managed from the 1930s to the 1950s. ...
,
Max Mara,
Rochas
Rochas is a fashion, beauty, and perfume house founded in 1925 by French designer Marcel Rochas, the first designer of 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets and one of the two designers, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, who launched the fashion fo ...
and Fausto Puglisi, appeared in global campaigns for
H&M and
Diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
, and was seen on the cover of
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
Kazakhstan and in many fashion editorials, most notably in many of
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
's international editions (US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan). In March 2017, Cumming appeared with
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
for Vogue Germany in the news-making film and photo spread "Her Story", released on
International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
2017.
Political activism
![Julia Cumming interviewing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at an %22Anger_Can_Be_Power%22 Event](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Julia_Cumming_interviewing_Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez_at_an_%22Anger_Can_Be_Power%22_Event.jpg)
In 2017, Cumming founded Anger Can Be Power, a project that "endeavors to invoke the
DIY spirit to inspire people to integrate political involvement in their lives"; she has hosted several public events dedicated to the topic of young people, particularly women, moving into concrete political action. Cumming is also active in the
Model Alliance
The Model Alliance is a New York-based advocacy group focused on research and policy for models and others employed in the fashion industry. Founded in February 2012 by model Sara Ziff along with support from others models, the Model Alliance i ...
, and directed and produced a video featuring fellow models that encourages young people to directly call their political representatives. She interviewed Iranian-American singer Rahill Jamalifard (from
Habibi) about her experiences as a volunteer
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
translator during the
protests against Donald Trump's travel ban at
John F. Kennedy International Airport.
References
External links
Julia Cumming @ models.comJulia Cumming is Supercute!Julia Cumming is Rock & RollJulia Cumming's InstagramSunflower Bean's Bandcamp page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumming, Julia
1996 births
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American musicians
Activists from New York City
American activists
American rock bass guitarists
Child indie musicians
Women bass guitarists
Female models from New York (state)
American women rock singers
People from the East Village, Manhattan
Singers from New York City
Living people
21st-century American bass guitarists