Sondre Lerche is a LA-based Norwegian artist, composer. His eclectic and melodic debut, Faces Down, written and recorded at 16, was listed as one of the most remarkable debuts of 2002 by Rolling Stone, also winning a Norwegian Grammy for Best Newcomer. Anticipated follow-up Two Way Monologue was a 2004 Album Of The Year in Uncut, and he toured extensively across the world both solo, with his band, and with the likes of Air, Stereolab, Elvis Costello, and Milton Nascimento. In 2006 he scored a surprising Billboard Top 5 Jazz album, Duper Sessions, recorded the rambunctious Phantom Punch, as well as the soundtrack for the Steve Carell/Juliette Binoche hit movie Dan In Real Life. Said the LA Times about 2009's lush Heartbeat Radio: "No matter what genre he's working in (...) his refrains always pay off". Lerche co-wrote "Dear Laughing Doubters" for the 2010 comedy Dinner For Schmucks. In 2011 he made his second appearance on David Letterman's Late Show, performing from his spirited, stripped down self-titled album, while in 2012 he had the honor of appearing on an official postage stamp in Norway. The 2014 release of his score for Sundance indie-hit movie The Sleepwalker, was followed by Please, which Popmatters called "a pop masterpiece”, naming it one of the best albums of the year. 2017’s groovy, flamboyant Pleasure was a "thrilling sonic reboot", according to Allmusic, followed by an extensive 100-date world tour, and, in 2018, the stripped down come-down, Solo Pleasure, plus the music for beloved Norwegian children's television puppet, Fantorangen. Lerche currently resides in Los Angeles.

 

Ruby Rose Fox is Boston/Chicago based musical performer, actress, writer, and educator. The Herald describes Ruby Rose Fox’s music “arty, edgy rock 'n' roll that lets her be Lou Reed and Nico at the same time... [and seems] to come from another scene, another world.” Combined Ruby has received 9 Boston and New England Music awards, received two grants from the Boston Foundations, produced and performed two one-woman shows, and ran a program called Gifted which offered free lessons to Boston youth. Ruby is also the creator of The Unstoppable Performer, a training program which combines nervous system health with performance. Ruby’s vocal and nervous system site can be viewed at www.theunstoppableperformer.com and her music page is www.rubyrosefox.com.

 

Allison Iraheta was born into the music industry. As a very young child, she started performing at community events around her neighborhood in South Central, Los Angeles. She began singing professionally - from furniture stores and community events to corporate events - at the age of 7. When she was 14 she won 1st place on the TV show "Quinceanera" (a Latin singing competition). Two years later, Iraheta graced the stages of American Idol and performed with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Slash, Fergie, and Adam Lambert. At just 17 years old, Iraheta beat out thousands of contestants and made her way to fourth place before being eliminated from season 8 of American Idol.

After leaving the show, Iraheta signed to Jive Records and did an arena tour with other alumni from American Idol. In 2010, shortly after the tour, she released her debut album "Just Like You". To promote the album she was booked as the supporting act for Adam Lambert on his "Glamnation Tour". A few weeks shy of the end of the tour, Jive records went into hibernation and subsequently dropped Iraheta.

After the dissolution of Jive and the end of the Glamnation Tour, Allison returned to Los Angeles seeking ways to maintain her craft. Musical director Rickey Minor offered her a spot singing background vocals in the house band for 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'. That opportunity lead to a week-long residency, where she fronted the house band every night.

Iraheta has supported the following artists as a background vocalist: Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Megan Trainor, Borns, and JLo. She also sang background vocals on American Idol, The Voice, and The Masked Singer. She was a reoccurring member of the Clive Davis house band - some of Los Angeles' finest musicians that are hired to back popular up and coming artists - and performed at the pre grammy parties several years in a row. Iraheta can also be heard providing backing vocals on Nine Inch Nails EP "Add Violence".

A slight change of focus leads to Iraheta fronting a band called Halo Circus. In roughly five years singing with Halo Circus, she co-wrote and recorded three full-length albums and did 3 national tours in support of those albums. After the end of Halo Circus, Iraheta redirected her focus back to background vocals and local sessions around the LA area.

Before the pandemic, Iraheta was most recently seen singing at the Super Bowl 54 halftime show with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. Shortly after, she sang with Neil Diamond, Chris Issac, Sammy Hagar, and Billy Ray Cyrus at a tribute for Neil Diamond called 'Keep the Memory Alive'.

She currently has a political song out called "Send Out The Clown" with a band called FUHM that she formed with friends as part of a pandemic project. As she adjusts to the shift in the music industry, she is taking advantage of her free time to work on new music and to explore other ways she can use her talents and her voice.

 

Mal Devisa is the Amherst, Massachusetts based solo project of 23 year old vocalist, poet, and artist Deja Carr. Carr began playing music at age 12 when she and a group of friends started all-female band Who’da Funk it? After 5 years of performing, writing and recording, Carr began to learn bass and save scraps of her forgotten songs. Mal Devisa was born soon after, out of slanted basement walls and busted, dusty kick drums.

The sound is a hailstorm of genre-defying magic that spans jazz, noise, folk, hip hop, experimental and many other forms. Her lyrics are venomous and then sweet, her rhythms are lightning and whisper into the haunting DIY spaces she stumbles into. Afropunk writes: “Her ambient tracks invite the listener to get lost in a world that is of her own devising.“ Mal Devisa sound is one you should see to truly hear. With incredible live performances, the project becomes more of a feeling, a moment, a time in space that requires you to get real and lost, with no intention of being found.

In the past two years, Mal Devisa has earned her spot into the arms of many beloved spaces such as NPR, Afro-punk, Cypher-league and various music blogs and sources. Her constant touring and ability to store socks in her bass-case indicate she will not be stopping any time soon. If you see Mal Devisa, please tell her to return my socks.

 

Quinn Christopherson is an Athabaskan and Inupiaq songwriter who was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska.

 

Manuel Gonzales started his path in wine studies in the late 1990s when his passion for classical guitar lead him to Boston to continue his independent studies. Here he worked in the restaurant scene and first fell in love with the wines of Sancerre whose citric aromas reminded him of the lime trees that grew in his Grandmother’s home of Hermosillo, Mexico. From here his career lead him deeper into restaurant culture where he cultivated several award winning beverage programs always with a leaning towards the wines of Classical Europe and cocktail creation.

Manny has accreditation as a certified Sommelier, WSET Level 3 in Wine and a WSET level 1 in sake as well as a French Wine Scholar. Today Manny spearheads the international wine and sake focus of Horizon Beverage Company.