Laura Sullivan is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, arranger,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, producer, author, and a

New-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

, World, Spoken Word, Native American, and

Pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

artist. She has worked with leading musicians of the industry and Grammy award winners including Eric Sullivan,

Nancy Rumbel Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel are musicians who have performed, recorded and traveled together since 1985, and are responsible for 19 albums. Eric Tingstad is a composer who plays fingerstyle guitar. Nancy Rumbel plays oboe, English horn and ...

Jeff Oster Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

Eugene Friesen Eugene Friesen (born 1952) is an American cellist and composer. Early life Friesen was born in 1952 to Russian Mennonite parents. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music. Career Friesen has been a member of the Paul Winter Consort since 1 ...

, and

Will Ackerman William Ackerman (born November 16, 1949) is an American guitarist and record producer who founded Windham Hill Records. Career Early years Ackerman was born in Palo Alto, California. His adoptive father was a professor of English at Stanfor ...

. She is best known for her album, '' Love's River'', which won the

Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several ca ...

in the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid comp ...

. ''Love’s River'' was recognized as one of the best commercial productions by

after 2009. Sullivan's album ''Pieces of Forever'' was nominated for

Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several c ...

in the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

Early life and education

Laura Sullivan was raised in a farm in NorCal near Mt.Lassen. As a child, Sullivan started learning piano from her mother at the age of 4. Her mother, Carol Purdy was a children's book writer. She graduated from California State University, Chico where she received a BA in music with specialization in piano, and a master's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

from

USF USF may refer to: Universities * University of Saint Francis (Indiana), Ft. Wayne, Indiana * University of San Francisco, California * University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida * University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois * University of Siou ...

. San Francisco State University (CSU) and Academy of Art University have hosted her as a guest presenter in their music courses. She went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for completing graduate training at the music department of the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Career

During her career, Sullivan's works have appeared in multiple videos and commercials, including a

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

commercial with

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

done by

Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Bridges comes from a prominent a ...

, and an infomercial for ''Everyday Paleo''. Her music is also featured in two Emmy Award-winning documentaries, ''Walk into the Wild: Spirit of Itasca'' and ''The Greatest Silent Sport''. Sullivan composed the original soundtrack for the film ''Valentines Day Special'', which starred

Jon Polito Jon Raymond Polito (December 29, 1950 – September 1, 2016) was an American character actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. Notable television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the fi ...

, and performed the music for the track "Sleepwalking on a Tightrope" in the movie ''Wake'', written by

Henry LeRoy Finch Wake or The Wake may refer to: Culture *Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies *Wakes week, an English holiday tradition * Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...

. Later, Gio Vitelle approached her to compose music for the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

''Emotions''. The film premiered at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. She has also composed original music for Gunther Thallinger's short film ''Nine and A Half Minutes Left''.

Collaborations

Sullivan performed on D. Edward's album ''Love Is'' released in 2014. Other artists on the album include Grammy winners Steffen Kuehn and Tony Peebles from the

Pacific Mambo Orchestra Pacific Mambo Orchestra is a Latin dance music orchestra based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album was released in October 2012, and they received a Grammy Award for the album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. History The Pacific ...

, as well as

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

Winner, Leah Tysse. She also appeared on the album Omkara – The Sound of Divine Love, based on Chakra and healing music which was conceived, directed and produced by

Rupam Sarmah Rupam Sarmah is a musician, filmmaker, entrepreneur, author, sound engineer, and computer scientist. Rupam is a Guinness World Records holder and had a #1 release on the Billboard World Music chart (''Together in Peace'', 2017). He won a Gold Te ...

, Guinness World Record holder of most instruments used in a piece of music. Along with Sullivan, the album features Grammy winner

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, professionally known as V. M. Bhatt (born 27 July 1950), is an Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena ( slide guitar). Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his wife and ...

, Padmashri Sumitra Guha, Rocia Marron, Grammy winner

Brian Vibberts Brian Vibberts is an American audio engineer, a native of Portland, Connecticut, who has been active since 1991. He is a 7-time Grammy Award winner (6x Grammy, 1 Latin Grammy) and has participated in the making of numerous albums that have resul ...

, Pt. Subhen Chatterjee, Jonathan Kay, Matthias Muller, among others. In 2013, Sullivan performed on the album '' Sounds from the Circle V'' produced by Suzanne Doucet. Other artists on the album include

Steven Halpern Steven Halpern is an American new-age musician. He is a Grammy Award nominee and considered one of the founding fathers of new-age music. Early career Halpern played trumpet and guitar in the New York City jazz scene of the 1960s, but became di ...

, Arun Sheony, David Vito Gregoli, Pardiso, among others. In 2014, Sullivan performed on the album '' Angel Blessings'' (Benefitting Hospice) produced by Lucinda Paulos. In addition to Sullivan, this album featured Dr.

Wayne Dyer Wayne Walter Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 29, 2015) was an American self-help author and a motivational speaker. Dyer completed a Ed.D. in guidance and counseling at Wayne State University in 1970. Early in his career, he worked as a high sch ...

, George Kahumoku Jr., Miss Amy,

Orlando Otey Orlando Otey (February 1, 1925 – October 23, 2011) was a Mexican-born pianist who gave his first concert at age 5 at the Teatro Iris in Mexico City. He became known as "The Chopin of Mexico" at age 14 because his playing and compositions were d ...

Ricky Kej Ricky Kej (born 5 August 1981 - Dhaka, Bangladesh) is a multi-Grammy Award-winning Indian music composer and environmentalist. He has performed at venues in over 30 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva. ...

Alex Otey Alex Otey (born 1959) is a singer-songwriter, music producer, pianist, and trumpeter. He has performed with jazz musicians such as Richie Cole and Lew Soloff, and recorded with Grover Washington Jr. on the 1979 ''Skylarking'' album. He has prod ...

, among others. Later in 2014, producer

and Tom Eaton featured her on their album '' The Gathering II''. The compilation album featured 22 artists, including Jeff Pearce, Isadar, Jeff Oster and others, produced and recorded at Imaginary Roads Studios, owned by Windham Hill Records founder, Will Ackerman.

Discography

* ''Piano Solos'' (2003) * ''Trails of North America'' (2003) * ''Mystical America'' (2004) * ''Feast of Joy & Love'' (2007) * ''Close to Home'' (2008) * '' Love's River'' (2013) * ''Calm Within'' (2015) * ''The Modern Romantic'' (2016) * ''Timeless'' (2016) * ''Healing'' (2017) * ''Zelda'' (2018) * ''Serenity'' (2018) * ''A Magical Christmas'' (2018) * ''Paris Enjoué'' (2019) * ''Reverie'' (2020) * ''Pieces of Forever'' (2021) * ''Instrumental Pop Covers'' (2021)

Bibliography

Media appearances

Sullivan was the lead artist in a documentary named ''Music Across America'' presenting portraits of musicians, singers and songwriters across the United States. Other prominent artists on the show include

Jake Shimabukuro Jake Shimabukuro (born November 3, 1976) is a Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso and composer known for his fast and complex finger work. His music combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, folk, and flamenco. Shimabukuro has writt ...

Amy Hānaialiʻi Gilliom Amy Hānaialiʻi Gilliom is an American vocalist and songwriter. Hanaialiʻi is a six-time Grammy_Award_for_Best_Hawaiian_Music_Album, Grammy Award Nominee. She is best known for reinvigorating the Hawaiian tradition of female falsetto singing. ...

, and

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...

. Sullivan's performance of the '' Claire de Lune'' was used on season 10 of the television show ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'' with judges

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949), also known as Nasty Nigel, is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the ...

, Mary Murphy and

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

Accolades

* Jane Bowman Jewett Music Award * Emily A. Hauss Music Award * Grammy Award for Best New Age Album

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Laura American women composers 21st-century American composers Grammy Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century women composers