Lizzie West (born in

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 ...

, NY on July 21, 1973) is a

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

. Her music can be described as a blend of many genres including

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, pop, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

. Her debut album, ''Holy Road: Freedom Songs'', was released in 2003 on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. This album earned her the title of Breakout Artist of the Year by both

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

and

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

. It was recorded with her former band, the Gangs of Kosmos. Popular songs on the album include ''Dusty Turnaround'', ''Sometime'', and ''Holy Road''. Her second album, ''I Pledge Allegiance To Myself'', was released in April 2006 by Appleseed Records. A film entitled ''Holy Road: The Movie'' which describes Lizzie West, her touring, personal experiences, and musical career was in production around the time of her first album release. However, this project was likely abandoned since her departure from Warner Bros. Records. West spent most of her early adult life traveling across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

while writing stories and plays. She moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

when she was 18. After returning to America four years later (1995), she purchased her first

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

from a

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Upon returning 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 ...

the following year, she began performing her songs on street corners, subways, and her sister's bar, the Stinger, in Williamsburg,

. Her first tour of the United States came in the summer of 2000 in which she performed in bars and small clubs. West also appeared in a commercial directed by

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

for IAM.com in which she performed her song, ''Holy Road''. After touring again in April 2001 with the

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

Band and Double Trouble, she caught the attention of an A&R representative for major label Warner Bros. Records. A multi-album recording deal with Warner Bros. Records was made in August 2001. Some of her songs have been featured in television shows and films. The 2002 film ''Secretary'' featured ''Chariots Rise'' on its soundtrack. The song was re-recorded for the film, with the lyrics "What a fool am I/To fall so in love" changed to "What grace have I/To fall so in love."Internet Movie Database
/ref> The

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

feature ''Rock the Boat'' included the songs ''Dusty Turnaround'' and ''Sometime''. ''Sometime'' was also used in commercials advertising the show ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. T ...

'' in 2003.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Third Watch ''Third Watch'' is an American crime drama television series created by John Wells and Edward Allen Bernero that aired on NBC from September 26, 1999, to May 6, 2005, with a total of 132 episodes spanning over six seasons. It was produced by ...

'' and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''Alias'' featured the song ''Prayer'', while ''Doctor'' was used in the WB drama ''

Everwood ''Everwood'' (known as ''Our New Life in Everwood'' in the United Kingdom) is an American drama television series created by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Rina Mimoun, Andrew A. Ackerman and Michael Green served as executive producer ...

''. West claims inspiration from the poetry and works of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

, and most notably

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

. (In fact she met Cohen while on tour in 2000). She refers to her fans as "Kickers," meaning catalysts for consciousness, individual and/or collective. West owns a dog named Figaro (aka the "dharma dog") whose pictures are featured on her album and official website. She is known for signing her correspondence x=h/m. Lizzie West was also involved in a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

called ''The Holy Road Medicine Show'' with her husband, Baba. Lizzie West was also involved with a

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

called "This Abundant Life" with her husband, Baba.

Discography

Albums

* Holy Road - ''released 1999'' * West (EP) - ''released 2002'' * Holy Road: Freedom Songs - ''released 2003'' * I Pledge Allegiance to Myself - (under the name Lizzie West & The White Buffalo) ''released 2006'' * Chariots Rise - (under the name Lizzie West & Baba Buffalo) ''released 2009'' * Thank You for Giving Us... (EP) - (under Lizzie & Baba) ''released 2011''

Soundtracks

Notes

External links

Official Site
*Lizzie West: Singer of the Wee

AskMen.com *Wilson, Mackenzie. Lizzie West biography on Yahoo! Musi

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Lizzie 1973 births Living people Songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers