Cari Q (born Cari Quoyeser, November 10, 1990) is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

singer, songwriter, performer, and artist from

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, based in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, Italy. Performing with a band and as a solo artist, Cari appeared on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Soundcheck A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small po ...

with

Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the f ...

, was a singer with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

cheerleaders Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

, and sang at the

2011 NFL draft The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual National Football League draft, NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Rad ...

party. She played at the

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

music festival and competed on

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

( season 11) in January 2012.

Early life and education

Cari Quoyeser was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended Stratford High School. Cari holds a bachelor's degree in history from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, graduating in 2013. In 2022, Quoyeser earned a Master of Business Administration from Bologna Business School.

Career

Cari began her music career as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Houston-based band Suburban Warfare in early 2009. The Cari Quoyeser Band made their live performing debut at

Fitzgerald's FitzGerald's was Tasmania's largest chain of department stores. The chain was rebranded and relaunched as Harris Scarfe in 1995, and the renamed stores continue to trade today. History FitzGerald's was founded in March 1886, when George Park ...

in Houston, Texas on June 25, 2010. Cari also started a solo project, Cari Q, recording her solo debut album ''Blueprints to Infinity'' in 2012 at

SugarHill Recording Studios SugarHill Recording Studios is a music recording studio located at 5628 Brock Street in Houston, Texas. Originally founded by Bill Quinn in 1941 as Quinn Recording, it is the oldest continuously operating studio in the United States. Renamed Gol ...

. In 2009, Suburban Warfare appeared on NPR's Soundcheck with Ben Folds. As a solo act, Cari Q was a showcasing artist at the

Music festival in March 2010. From 2011 to 2013, Cari performed as a singer with the Houston Texans cheerleaders, performing at the 2011 NFL draft party. Cari competed on

American Idol (season 11) The eleventh season of ''American Idol'' premiered on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox on January 18, 2012, and concluded on May 23, 2012. Ryan Seacrest returned as host, while Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler all returned as judges. ...

in an episode broadcast in January 2012. Starting in 2014, Cari Q embarked on a European tour, additionally performing multiple concerts in Israel, as well as at the 2014 Fete de la Musique in France. In 2017, she headlined at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. From 2012 through 2018, Cari lived and performed in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. She played the 2015 Heart of Texas Rockfest, a showcase for unsigned local artists during the annual

music festival. In 2018, Cari relocated from Austin, Texas, to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. Upon graduating with her MBA in 2021, Cari joined

Musixmatch Musixmatch is an Italian music data company and platform for users to search and share song lyrics with translations. Musixmatch has 80 million users (50M active users), 12 million songs with their respective lyrics, and 115+ employees. In 202 ...

as their global Artists Community Manager. In 2022, Cari Quoyeser founded the podcast ''The Mix'', where she interviews musical acts and discusses important trends in music and technology. She currently resides in Bologna, Italy where she is taking a break from recording and playing live to work on songwriting.

Discography

Albums

* ''Blueprints to Infinity'' (2012) * ''Driftwork Sound Sessions'' (2019)

Singles

* ''Fall of Rome'' (2015) * ''Byzantium'' (2019) * ''When You're Around'' (2020) * ''Kill Me Twice'' (2020) * ''Negev'' (2020)

References

External links

CariQmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cari Q American rock songwriters American rock musicians 1990 births American women singer-songwriters American women rock singers Singers from Houston Writers from Houston Living people Singers from Austin, Texas 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Texas 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters Quoyeser, Cari