Madi Diaz (born May 14, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

Early life

Diaz grew up in

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Lengeschder Kaundi), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the south central part of Pennsylvania. ...

, where she was home-schooled by her

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vian mother, Nancy, a proponent of early childhood development and the visual arts, and her

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

father, Eric, a woodworker and musician. Diaz began piano lessons at age five from her father. In her early teens, Diaz switched from piano to guitar. She was featured in ''

Rock School ''Rock School'' (also known as ''Gene Simmons' Rock School'') is a British reality television series starring Gene Simmons from the rock band Kiss, in which he has a short time to turn a class of schoolchildren into a fully fledged rock band ...

'', director Don Argott's 2005 documentary about the program as Madi Diaz-Svalgard. Her father Eric Svalgård is a member of the

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

tribute band ''Project/Object''.

Music career

After high school, Diaz was accepted to

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

. At Berklee, she began working with Kyle Ryan, the Nebraska-raised guitarist who would be her songwriting collaborator for her early career. The two began their collaboration when a fellow student, a producer looking for a project, offered Diaz the chance to record an album in Hawaii. The self-released album ''Skin And Bones'' (2007) was the result, and a songwriting and performing partnership between Diaz and Ryan stuck. Shortly after, Diaz dropped out of the program at Berklee. In 2008, Diaz and Ryan continued writing and began playing shows in

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 ...

. There, she met her manager and signed to publisher Cherry Lane Music. Diaz and Ryan were then sent to Nashville for a month to write, and in mid-2010 moved to Nashville. After releasing the EP, ''Ten Gun Salute'', Diaz began touring with

The Civil Wars The Civil Wars were an American musical duo composed of Joy Williams (singer), Joy Williams and John Paul White. Formed in 2008, The Civil Wars won four Grammy Awards prior to their 2014 breakup. History 2008–2010 Both Williams and White h ...

and

Landon Pigg Landon Pigg (born August 6, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Early life, education and childhood career Pigg was born in Nashville, Tennessee. When he was a child, his family moved to Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago ...

. She was featured in ''Paste'' magazine as one of the "Top Ten Buzziest Acts" at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

2009, and had songs featured on cw The originals

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

's ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...

'', and Lifetime's ''

Drop Dead Diva ''Drop Dead Diva'' is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that aired on Lifetime from July 12, 2009, to June 22, 2014. The series was created by Josh Berman and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It stars Brooke Elliott ...

'', ''

Army Wives ''Army Wives'' is an American drama television series that followed the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007, and ran for seven seasons, ending on June 9, 2013. The sh ...

'', and '' Princesses: Long Island''. Her EP, ''Far from the Things That We Know'', was released on September 20, 2011, by TinyOGRE Entertainment. The EP was recorded in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Charlottesville, VA Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Cha ...

with

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(

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

) serving as producer. The EP previewed songs from her full-length album, ''Plastic Moon'', which was released in January 2012. In February 2012, Diaz moved to Los Angeles, marking a new chapter in her music career. Now working solo, her next album, ''We Threw Our Hearts in the Fire'', was released on October 23, 2012. Diaz appeared as a guest on ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with ''Th ...

'' on the January 13, 2014 episode. She released the single "Stay Together" on July 11, 2014. It is the first single off of her album, ''Phantom'', which was released in September 2014. The song "The End of the Day," written by Diaz and

Sarah Siskind Sarah Siskind (born April 15, 1978) is an American folk singer and songwriter. Career Siskind grew up in North Carolina in a musical household. She learned the piano at an early age, began writing songs at age eleven and recorded her first albu ...

, was featured on the television series ''

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 ...

'', and is performed by

Connie Britton Constance Elaine Britton ( Womack; born March 6, 1967) is an American actress. Britton made her feature film debut in the independent comedy-drama film ''The Brothers McMullen'' (1995), and the following year, she was cast as Nikki Faber on the ...

and

Charles Esten Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), also known professionally as Charles Esten, and Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician and comedian. Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the ABC/ CMT drama ''Nashvil ...

. In 2018, Diaz provided the vocals for

Dan Romer Dan Romer is an American film composer, music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Career As a film composer, Romer's scores include four-time Oscar-nominated ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', ''Beasts of No Nation'', ''Chasing Coral'', ...

's track, "Help Me Faith", from the soundtrack of the

videogame Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedb ...

, ''

Far Cry 5 ''Far Cry 5'' is a 2018 first-person shooter, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the successor to 2014's ''Far Cry 4'', and the fifth main installment in the ''Far Cry'' series. Set in Hope County, ...

''. On February 11, 2021,

ANTI- Records Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...

announced that Diaz had signed with them, alongside the release of her first single with the label titled "Man In Me".

Discography

* ''Skin and Bone'' (April 11, 2007) * ''Ten Gun Salute'' EP (December 5, 2008) * ''Far from the Things That We Know'' EP (September 20, 2011) * ''Plastic Moon'' (January 24, 2012) – No. 20 on Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart * ''We Threw Our Hearts in the Fire'' (October 23, 2012) * ''Phantom'' (September 30, 2014) * ''It's Okay to Be Alone'' EP (August 2, 2018) * '' History of a Feeling ''(August 27, 2021) * ''Same History, New Feelings'' EP (March 4, 2022)

Collaborations

RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Center, ...

Joshua Radin Joshua Radin (born June 14, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. He has recorded nine studio albums, and his songs have been used in a number of films and TV series. His most successful album, ''Simple Times'', was released in 2008. Beginnin ...

Lester Mendez Lester Mendez is a multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning record producer, songwriter and composer. His production/writing credits include a multitude of successful hits with Shakira, Jewel, Nelly Furtado, Jessica Simpson, Enrique Iglesias, and ot ...

* Viceroy * Jensen Sportag *

Joseph Arthur Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through c ...

* Nick Ruth *

Mindy Smith Melinda Leigh Smith (born June 1, 1972, Long Island, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. Her first record deal came after she sang a cover version of the song "Jolene (song), Jolene" by Dolly Parton. Music career Smith was adopted at bi ...

* Magic Man *

Rob Cantor Robert Howard Cantor is an American singer-songwriter and creator of multiple viral videos. He is mostly known as a vocalist, guitarist, and co-writer for the "fabloo" indie rock band Tally Hall. In addition, Cantor is also known for his solo w ...

* Gold Fields * Joe Hawley, Ross Federman, and Bora Karaca of

Tally Hall Tally Hall is an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002. The band is known for upbeat melodies and whimsical lyrics. The members originally described their musical style as "wonky rock," later redefining their sound ...

on vocals for the track "Black Rainbows" on the album "Hawaii: Part II". *

Andrew Heringer Andrew Heringer (born November 28, 1984) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, composer, music-producer, music-mixer, theater collaborator and performer. Milo Greene In 2009, Heringer started writing and recording music that eventually bec ...

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...

– Background vocals on "The Weight Of These Wings" *

- Help Me Faith - Dan Romer ft. Madi Diaz from Far Cry 5 "Into The Flames"

References

External links

*
American Songwriter Interview

Marie Claire Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Madi Living people American women singer-songwriters American folk singers Musicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Musicians from Los Angeles Berklee College of Music alumni Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania 1986 births 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Nettwerk Music Group artists