Lauren O'Connell (born December 10, 1988) is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. They have independently released six solo albums, and two EPs as a duo with Nataly Dawn under the group name My Terrible Friend.

Early life

Lauren O'Connell was born in Rochester,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

on December 10, 1988. They began playing

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

at the age of twelve and wrote their first song by the age of fifteen. Their early performing experience came from playing

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

nights with their high school friend,

Julia Nunes Julia Nunes (born January 3, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter from Fairport, New York. Her career has progressed online through her videos of pop songs on YouTube, in which she sings harmony with herself and plays acoustic instruments, pr ...

. In 2007, O'Connell went to Saxon Recording in Rochester at the suggestion of a friend and recorded their debut album ''Sitting in Chairs'' with engineer Dave Anderson. They recorded the entire album in one day, using single takes of each song. Shortly after releasing ''Sitting in Chairs,'' O'Connell began attending

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

. Throughout their first year they continued to write and perform. They began uploading videos of their original songs to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

so that they could share them with their friends from Rochester, including Nunes. Nunes made videos as well and garnered an unexpected following, and her videos led audiences to find O'Connell's work. O'Connell's first videos were simple one-takes of original songs with guitar and voice, but they soon progressed to include cover songs with layered

harmonies In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

and accompaniment, usually with O'Connell playing all of the instruments themselves. Though they generally use traditional instruments in their songs, O'Connell has sometimes used unconventional means when recording, including

wine glass A wine glass is a type of Glass (drinkware), glass that is used for drinking or wine tasting, tasting wine. Most wine glasses are stemware (goblets), composed of three parts: the bowl, stem, and foot. There are a wide variety of slightly differe ...

es, a metal tool cabinet, kicks to a

garage door A garage door is a large door to allow access to a garage that opens either manually or by an electric motor (a garage door opener). Garage doors are frequently large enough to accommodate automobiles and other vehicles. The operating mechanis ...

, a

tennis racket A racket or racquet is an item of sporting equipment used to strike a ball or shuttlecock in a variety of sports. A racket consists of three major components: a widened distal end known as the ''head'', an elongated handle known as the ''grip' ...

covered in change, and a deck of playing cards. In late 2008, they decided to leave school and pursue music full-time.

Career

Shortly after leaving school, O'Connell began recording their follow-up album ''The Shakes'', which was released in early 2009. During the summer of 2009, O'Connell met

Jack Conte Jack Conte (; born July 12, 1984) is an American musician and co-founder and CEO of Patreon. He and his wife Nataly Dawn comprise the musical duo Pomplamoose, and he is co-leader of the band Scary Pockets and founder of the band Magaziine. Car ...

and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose when they came to New York to produce Nunes' ''I Think You Know'' EP. In 2010, O'Connell moved to Sonoma County, CA where they moved into a house with Conte and Dawn. A few months after moving to California, O'Connell and Dawn began a collaboration called My Terrible Friend. The duo recorded an EP titled ''Room for Ghosts'' in their home studio and released it on July 7, 2010. On July 20, 2010, O'Connell and Dawn were featured on the YouTube homepage for Music Tuesday, both individually and as My Terrible Friend. Though O'Connell's fanbase was initially centered on the local area where they performed, their YouTube presence exposed their music to a much wider audience. On November 8, 2009, they played with Pomplamoose at the wedding of

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

member

Mark Owen Mark Owen (born 27 January 1972) is an English singer and songwriter best known for being a member of pop group and band Take That; as of 2024, the group have sold 14.4 million albums and 14 million singles in the UK. In Owen's solo career, he h ...

and English actress Emma Ferguson in Cawdor Church,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Ferguson, a fan of

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded eleven studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical opera ...

, discovered Nataly Dawn's cover of Wainwright's song " Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and invited Dawn to play the song at the wedding. They then discovered Pomplamoose and O'Connell and Dawn's "The Daylight Here" and invited Conte and O'Connell to play as well. In September 2010 O'Connell was chosen as the West Regional Winner of the 2010

Mountain Stage ''Mountain Stage'' is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio (NPR). Hosted by Larry Groce from the show's inception until 2021 and curr ...

Newsong Contest. On October 22, 2010, they joined eleven other finalists from across America and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at Arts World Financial Center's Wintergarden in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for the Award Round performance competition and an opportunity to record an EP with

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

winning producer

Jacquire King Jacquire King (born January 11, 1967) is an American record producer, recording engineer and mixer. King has worked with such notable artists as Zach Bryan, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, James Bay, Kaleo, Modest Mouse, Shania Twain, Buddy Guy, ...

. On December 14, 2010, O'Connell announced that they were raising money to record a new album and were working with

Pledgemusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects, such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist pa ...

in order to give fans an opportunity to help fund studio time, with the goal of being in the studio sometime in January 2011. In return for pledging O'Connell decided to include personalized merchandise ranging from autographed

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

and

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s, handwritten lyrics, and hand-drawn artwork to house concerts, their personal

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

filled with music, and even grocery shopping or

mini-golf Miniature golf (also known as minigolf, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by several other names) is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of poi ...

with the pledger when they come to their city for a show. The project was set for a sixty-day pledge period, however, fan pledges exceeded the target amount in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest Pledgemusic project ever to reach its goal at the time. One week later they added more of the incentives that sold out quickly as well as new incentives like the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

s they used for their videos and albums, a

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe for Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital art, especially in raster graphics editin ...

vacation photo with the pledger, and a

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

painted with the pledger's face in the style of "Wilson" from the movie ''

Cast Away ''Cast Away'' is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter who is stranded on a desert island after his plane cras ...

'', joking that their New Year's resolution was to make progressively weirder arts and crafts. The project raised 268% of the original goal by the time it concluded on February 14, 2011.

Personal life

In March 2022, O'Connell

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

and switched to they/them pronouns.

Discography

''Sitting in Chairs''

O'Connell's debut album was recorded at Saxon Recording in

in early 2007. ''Sitting in Chairs'' was recorded in just one day, single-tracked with an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

. Track List #Sitting in Chairs #Levers and Gears #Good Intentions #My Equations #I'm All Talk #Chimney Smoke #Just Be #All the Perching Crows #Somewhere in Between #There Will Be

''The Shakes''

O'Connell's second album was recorded in late 2008 in Rochester, New York at GFI Music. It was released in early 2009. Unlike their previous album, ''The Shakes'' features accompaniment, including

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s, horns, strings, and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Track List #From Chambers, Slow #Chicken Wire #The Pilot #Things I Panic About #I Don't Mind #Bystander #Oncoming Traffic #1988 #Sweet Lament #Tangled Up Kites

''Room for Ghosts''

In the summer of 2010 O'Connell collaborated with their roommate Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose and the duo released ''Room for Ghosts'' as My Terrible Friend in July 2010. The five track EP was recorded in their home studio and includes three original songs, as well as covers of "Diamonds and Gold" by

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

and " Holy Roller Novocaine" by

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

. Track list #When I Decide #Diamonds and Gold #Holy Roller Novocaine #The Daylight Here #Dying to Live

''Quitters''

On January 25, 2012, O'Connell announced via their website that they would be releasing a new album on March 2. ''Quitters'' was produced by O'Connell and engineered & mixed by Oz Fritz at Prairie Sun Studios in

Cotati, California Cotati (; Miwok: ''Kota’ti'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco in U.S. Route 101 in California, the 101 corridor between Rohnert Park, California, Rohnert Park and Petaluma, ...

. Track list #Every Space #I Will Burn You Down #I Belong To You #Things Are Alright #If Found/Gravity #What Breaks (and What Doesn't) #Maybe True Stories #The Same Things #In The Next Room #White Noise

''Covers''

In 2012, O'Connell compiled eleven songs they had released on YouTube into their album ''Covers,'' featuring songs originally performed by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer and songwriter. His most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". All t ...

, the

Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...

and others, as well as two traditional American songs''.'' Their rendition of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" was featured on The Good Wife and "House of the Rising Sun" was featured in television promos for

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' (''AHS'') is an American horror film, horror anthology series, anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the Cable television, cable network FX (TV channel), FX. Th ...

's third season, ''Coven''. Track list #

All I Have to Do Is Dream "All I Have to Do Is Dream" is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on the ''Rolling Stone ...

# Dancing in the Dark #Little Maggie #The Way I Feel Inside # Peacebone #

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" is a song composed by Warren Zevon and David Lindell and performed by Zevon. It was included on Zevon's 1978 album ''Excitable Boy'', and while never released as a single became a fan favorite. It was the las ...

#The One I Love is Gone #Other People (feat. Will Sturgeon) #

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 and released the following year on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the B-side of the single " Blowin' in the Wind". The song has been covered by several ot ...

House of the Rising Sun "The House of the Rising Sun" is an American traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the ...

''I Tried to Be Kind''

On October 10, 2017, O'Connell released ''I Tried to Be Kind''. Track list #Grave Miscalculation #Almost Gone #Proving You Right #If You Knew #Professor #Switch

''Details''

On February 9, 2018, O'Connell released their fourth original album ''Details,'' an effort fan-funded via

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

. The album was produced by Olivia Lee and O'Connell, and featured Lee as a guitarist as well as drummer Lauren Grubb and bassist Josh Fossgreen. It was mixed by Ian Pellicci and Beau Sorenson and mastered by T.W. Walsh. O'Connell published a companion

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

for the album in which they shared experiences of

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

that informed some of the songs on the album. Track list #Superimposed #Moon Hang Low #In on the Joke #Shimmering Silver #Guilt #Rest Easy #Out of Focus #Under Control #Knowing Her Name #Build Yourself

''Covers Two''

On August 25, 2020, O'Connell released their second collection of cover songs, entitled ''Covers Two,'' featuring covers of songs by

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

the Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as frequent multi-instrumentalist. The band is named after the André B ...

Iris Dement Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. DeMent's musical style includes elements of folk, country and gospel. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award twice. Early life DeMent was born in Parag ...

and others. Track list #

Thirteen Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 * ...

#Laminated Cat #Ruination Day, Pt. II #I Hear Them All #

Hungry Heart "Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, '' The River''. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first top-five hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at ...

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

I Fall to Pieces "I Fall to Pieces" is a song written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard that was originally recorded by Patsy Cline. Released as a single in 1961 via Decca Records, it topped the country charts, crossed over onto the pop charts and became among ...

Kola unit was the big kola int eh Kola may refer to: People * Koła, a Polish noble family * Kola (name), people with the given name/surname Kola * Kola (singer), Ukrainian singer, songwriter and performer of her own songs * Kola people, Gabonese p ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

# Heart of Gold # I Don't Want to Get Over You

''Covers Three''

O'Connell's third album of covers, ''Covers Three,'' was released on September 20, 2021. It features covers of

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...

Guided by Voices Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted o ...

, and

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

, among others.

Track list

# If I Needed You # Unbelievers # Graceland # Where Did Our Love Go #

I Only Want To Be With You "I Only Want to Be with You" is a song written by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde. Released as a debut solo single by British singer Dusty Springfield under her long-time producer Johnny Franz, "I Only Want to Be with You" peaked at number 4 o ...

# Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) # Game of Pricks # The Killing Moon # Lost Cause # The One I Love # I Think It's Going to Rain Today

''Everything Feels Ridiculous''

O'Connell released their fifth original album ''Everything Feels Ridiculous'' on October 6, 2023. The tracks Joangeline, I Wanna Be Your Man, Verona, Power Out, Framingham, and Horsefly were released as singles in the lead-up to the album.

Track list

# Power Out # Framingham # Joangeline # Horsefly # Jacket? # I Wanna Be Your Man # Far Between # Verona # Anyway It's Not That Bad # Know You # Approach Me Now # Everything Feels Ridiculous

Notes

References

External links

*
YouTube

Lauren O'Connell PatreonLauren O'Connell on Bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnell, Lauren Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 1988 births Living people 21st-century American singer-songwriters Queer singer-songwriters American guitarists American folk singers Alternative country musicians American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters American non-binary musicians Non-binary singer-songwriters American record producers