Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Larin is an American musician, composer and record producer. Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States, Larin is also the founder of Bona Dea Music, an independent record label focused on electronic pop/rock, world and ambient music; and Digital Opts & Sound Design and ACM Creative Digital, digital media companies specializing in music production, film scoring, sound art installations, video production, web development and interactive publishing.

Background and career

A self-taught guitarist and pianist at age ten, at 15 Larin was asked to teach guitar at a local music store. In the store she came in contact with musicians playing many styles, including R&B and jazz, and was soon playing

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

s across the city. When she announced that she was going to join a

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

, and make a living as a musician, her parents objected. Larin left home at age 16, supporting herself by teaching guitar and playing gigs in and around Detroit. After leaving home, Larin found her way to Los Angeles, where along with guitarist and songwriter Michael King, she formed the group, Press. The band changed its name to Rebel Heels and signed with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

in 1987. Rebel Heels folded after only one album but Atlantic Records retained Larin as a

solo artist In music, a solo () is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, a continuo group (in Baroque music) ...

. Her debut solo album, ''Test Your Faith,'' was released in 1993, and re-released in Europe in 2014. Later, she returned to Detroit and went

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

and formed her own record label, Bona Dea Music (cf.

Bona Dea Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a List of Roman deities, goddess in Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility among married Women in ancient Rome, Roman women, healing, and the protection of t ...

, a figure from Roman mythology). ''Merry Wicked,'' her first independent album, was released in 1999. That album was followed by The ''Story of O-Miz'' in 2002 and ''Wake Up, Start Dreaming'' in 2006. The albums highlighted the musical skills of Robert Tye on guitar, James Simonson and Chuck Bartels on bass guitar, and Todd Glass and Dave Taylor on drums.

Vinnie Dombroski Vinnie Dombroski is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and main songwriter for the rock music, rock band Sponge (band), Sponge. He also fronted the short-lived supergroup (music), supergroup Spys4Darwin, and has been a mem ...

Sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

lent drums and vocals to the track "Pretty Is." ''The Story of O-Miz'' picked up the Outstanding CD of the Year Award at the Detroit Music Awards in 2005. The self-produced ''Hurricane'' CD was released in 2014, featuring Larin's skills as a producer and multi-instrumentalist. Taking a more electronic music approach, in 2018 Larin released two projects starting with electro-pop EP ''Good Human'' performed with samplers, keyboards, and electric guitar, creating vocal and sound loops, while remixing the music live in real time. Also, a 2018 release of instrumental music designed for meditation, ''Chakra Hymns - The Arcello Series'' moves the listener through the chakra centers with ambient music to support yoga practice and relaxation. 2021 saw the release of ''Arcello Focus- Magia'' and ''Hope Bridge - Ascending'' featuring Darlene Drew from the Lion King on world flutes. Currently, Larin composes music for film and television splitting her time between Detroit, Montreal and New Orleans, continuing to release music under Liz Larin, Stella 13, LusterKraft, Arcello Focus and Hope Bridge.

Awards and critical commentary

She has won multiple Detroit Music Awards. Her 2021 work "The Expedition" received the Outstanding Electronic/Dance Recording award.

Discography

*''One By One By One'' (with Rebel Heels), 1988, Atlantic Records. With Michael King- guitar, Danny Cox - drums. Produced by

Rupert Hine Rupert Neville Hine (21 September 1947 – 4 June 2020) was an English record producer and musician. He produced albums for artists including Rush, Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, the Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twins, Stevie Nic ...

. *''Test Your Faith'', 1993, Atlantic Records. Produced by Liz Larin and

Ben Grosse Ben Grosse is an American record producer and mixer. Grosse has mixed and produce albums for numerous music industry acts, primary in the heavy metal and hard rock genres. His credits include Dream Theater, Marilyn Manson, Sevendust, Disturbe ...

. *''Merry Wicked'', 1999, Bona Dea Music. Produced by Liz Larin and

Scott Spock David Scott Alspach, known professionally as Scott Spock, is an American songwriter, record producer and composer. He is known for being a member of the pop writing and production team The Matrix, who have written and produced many hit single ...

. *''The Story of O-Miz'', 2002, Bona Dea Music. *''Wake Up, Start Dreaming'', 2005, Bona Dea Music. *''Stella 13 - When Soul Becomes Symphony'', 2009, Bona Dea Music. *''Blue Circus Life'', 2009, Bona Dea Music. *''Luster Kraft - The Transmitter'', 2009, Bona Dea Music. *''Hurricane'', 2014, Bona Dea Music. *''Good Human - Stella 13'', 2018, Bona Dea Music. *''Chakra Hymns - Arcello Series - Music for Meditation'', 2018, Bona Dea Music. *''Arcello Focus - Magia'', 2021, Bona Dea Music. *''Hope Bridge - Ascending'', 2021, Bona Dea Music. *''Liz Larin - 'The Expedition'', 2021, Bona Dea Music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larin, Liz Living people American women guitarists American women singer-songwriters American rock guitarists American rock singers American rock songwriters American women rock singers Atlantic Records artists American alternative rock musicians Record producers from Michigan Singers from Detroit Guitarists from Detroit 21st-century American women singers American women record producers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Michigan