Laura Sullivan is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, arranger,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, producer, author, and a New-age, World, Spoken Word, Native American, and

Pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

artist. She has worked with leading musicians of the industry and Grammy award winners including Eric Sullivan, Nancy Rumbel, Jeff Oster, Eugene Friesen, and Will Ackerman. She is best known for her album, '' Love's River'', which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in the

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid co ...

. ''Love’s River'' was recognized as one of the best commercial productions by Will Ackerman after 2009. Sullivan's album ''Pieces of Forever'' was nominated for Best New Age Album in the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

Early life and education

Laura Sullivan was raised in a farm in NorCal near Mt.Lassen. As a child, Sullivan started learning piano from her mother at the age of 4. Her mother, Carol Purdy was a children's book writer. She graduated from California State University, Chico where she received a BA in music with specialization in piano, and a master's degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from

USF USF may refer to: Universities * University of Saint Francis (Indiana), Ft. Wayne, Indiana * University of San Francisco, California * University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida * University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois * University of Sioux ...

. San Francisco State University (CSU) and Academy of Art University have hosted her as a guest presenter in their music courses. She went to

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 completing graduate training at the music department of the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

Career

During her career, Sullivan's works have appeared in multiple videos and commercials, including a Hyundai commercial with

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

done by

Jeff Bridges Jeffrey Leon Bridges (born December 4, 1949) is an American actor. He is known for his Leading actor, leading man roles in film and television. In a career spanning over seven decades, he has received List of awards and nominations received by ...

, and an infomercial for ''Everyday Paleo''. Her music is also featured in two Emmy Award-winning documentaries, ''Walk into the Wild: Spirit of Itasca'' and ''The Greatest Silent Sport''. Sullivan composed the original soundtrack for the film ''Valentines Day Special'', which starred Jon Polito, and performed the music for the track "Sleepwalking on a Tightrope" in the movie ''Wake'', written by Henry LeRoy Finch. Later, Gio Vitelle approached her to compose music for the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

''Emotions''. The film premiered at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. She has also composed original music for Gunther Thallinger's short film ''Nine and A Half Minutes Left''.

Collaborations

Sullivan performed on D. Edward's album ''Love Is'' released in 2014. Other artists on the album include Grammy winners Steffen Kuehn and Tony Peebles from the Pacific Mambo Orchestra, as well as

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a Billboard charts, music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annu ...

Winner, Leah Tysse. She also appeared on the album Omkara – The Sound of Divine Love, based on Chakra and healing music which was conceived, directed and produced by Rupam Sarmah, Guinness World Record holder of most instruments used in a piece of music. Along with Sullivan, the album features Grammy winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Padmashri Sumitra Guha, Rocia Marron, Grammy winner Brian Vibberts, Pt. Subhen Chatterjee, Jonathan Kay, Matthias Muller, among others. In 2013, Sullivan performed on the album '' Sounds from the Circle V'' produced by Suzanne Doucet. Other artists on the album include

Steven Halpern Steven Halpern is an American new-age musician. He is a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award nominee and is considered one of the founding fathers of new-age music. Early career Halpern played trumpet and guitar in the New York City Free jazz, jazz scene ...

, Arun Shenoy, David Vito Gregoli, Pardiso, among others. In 2014, Sullivan performed on the album '' Angel Blessings'' (Benefitting Hospice) produced by Lucinda Paulos. In addition to Sullivan, this album featured Dr. Wayne Dyer, George Kahumoku Jr., Miss Amy, Orlando Otey, Ricky Kej, Alex Otey, among others. Later in 2014, producer Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton featured her on their album '' The Gathering II''. The compilation album featured 22 artists, including Jeff Pearce, Isadar, Jeff Oster and others, produced and recorded at Imaginary Roads Studios, owned by Windham Hill Records founder, Will Ackerman.

Discography

* ''Piano Solos'' (2003) * ''Trails of North America'' (2003) * ''Mystical America'' (2004) * ''Feast of Joy & Love'' (2007) * ''Close to Home'' (2008) * '' Love's River'' (2013) * ''Calm Within'' (2015) * ''The Modern Romantic'' (2016) * ''Timeless'' (2016) * ''Healing'' (2017) * ''Zelda'' (2018) * ''Serenity'' (2018) * ''A Magical Christmas'' (2018) * ''Paris Enjoué'' (2019) * ''Reverie'' (2020) * ''Pieces of Forever'' (2021) * ''Instrumental Pop Covers'' (2021)

Bibliography

Media appearances

Sullivan was the lead artist in a documentary named ''Music Across America'' presenting portraits of musicians, singers and songwriters across the United States. Other prominent artists on the show include Jake Shimabukuro, Amy Hānaialiʻi Gilliom, and

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

. Sullivan's performance of the '' Claire de Lune'' was used on season 10 of the television show '' So You Think You Can Dance'' with judges

Nigel Lythgoe Nigel Lythgoe OBE (; born 9 July 1949) is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer. He was the producer of the shows ''Pop Idol'' and ''Ame ...

, Mary Murphy and

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

Accolades

* Jane Bowman Jewett Music Award * Emily A. Hauss Music Award * Grammy Award for Best New Age Album

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Laura 21st-century American composers Grammy Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women composers