Maia Sharp is an American singer and songwriter. In addition to her solo career, she has written songs for and collaborated with several country and pop musicians including

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single "She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the '' Billboard'' c ...

Terri Clark Terri Lynn Sauson, known professionally as Terri Clark, born August 5, 1968, is a Canadian country music singer who has had success in both Canada and the United States. Signed to Mercury Records in 1995, she released her self-titled debut that ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporate ...

Edwin McCain Edwin Cole McCain (born January 20, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His songs " I'll Be" (1998) and " I Could Not Ask for More" (1999) were radio top-40 hits in the U.S., and five of his albums have reached the ''Billboar ...

, and

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 ...

Early life

Sharp was born in the Central Valley in California, the only child of country songwriter

Randy Sharp Randy Sharp is an American, three time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer. He has major success in many genre of music with his greatest successes in Pop, Country, and Alternative. He has composed for film and televis ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

professor Sharon Bays. When she was four, the family moved to Los Angeles, and at the age of five she recorded her first song. By the age of twelve she played piano, saxophone,

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

, and guitar, and by her twenties she was performing her jazz/folk songs in L.A. acoustic venues. Musically, she was inspired by

, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-ear ...

. Sharp studied music theory at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

and began to focus on song-writing. She

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

as a lesbian at the age of 23.

Career

Sharp played her first gig in 1993. Two years later, she met music executive Miles Copeland and recorded her debut album, '' Hardly Glamour'' (1997), on his record label

Ark 21 Ark 21 Records was a record label established by Miles & Stewart Copeland in 1997, based in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, United States. Artists *Kathem Al-Saher * Ragheb Alamah *Aswad *The Badlees *The Beautiful South * John Berry *Be ...

. Her next album ''Tinderbox'' failed to be released when Ark 21 was incorporated into

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

. Three of its songs featured on Sharp's 2002 album '' Maia Sharp'' on

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

. Her 2005 album '' Fine Upstanding Citizen'' was released by

Koch Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east ...

. 2009's ''Echo'', released by Crooked Crown, is, according to Sharp, her most personal album to date. During her career, Sharp has collaborated with other musicians including

Lisa Loeb Lisa Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number 1 hit song " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites,'' the first number 1 single for an artist ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one o ...

Jules Shear Jules Mark Shear (born March 7, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He wrote the Cyndi Lauper hit single " All Through the Night" and The Bangles' hit "If She Knew What She Wants", and charted a hit as a performer with "Stead ...

and

Jonatha Brooke Jonatha Brooke (born January 23, 1964) is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Massachusetts, United States. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies. She has been a ...

. As a songwriter, her songs have been recorded by musicians including

Kim Richey Kimberly Richey (born December 1, 1956) is an American singer and songwriter. Career Kim Richey came onto the music scene in the 1990s and entered her first recording contract at the age of 37. Kim signed with Mercury Nashville. She spent the n ...

Amanda Marshall Amanda Meta Marshall (born August 29, 1972) is a Canadian pop- rock singer. She has released three studio albums; the first was certified Diamond in Canada, with the latter two certified 3× Platinum and Platinum respectively. She is best known f ...

Paul Carrack Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

The Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and E ...

and

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that re ...

. She collaborated with

and Buddy Mondlock on the 2002 album '' Everything Waits to be Noticed'', Garfunkel's debut as a songwriter. Sharp contributed the track "Castaway" to the album '' Music from the Aisle of Lesbos'', an album featuring various lesbian artists from different genres. In 2009 Sharp opened for

on several dates. She started a national concert tour in October 2009.

Discography

Solo albums

* 1997: ''Hardly Glamour'' * 2002: '' Maia Sharp'' * 2005: '' Fine Upstanding Citizen'' * 2006: ''Eve and the Red Delicious'' * 2009: ''Echo'' * 2012: ''Change the Ending'' * 2015: ''The Dash Between the Dates'' * 2021: ''Mercy Rising''

Collaborations

* 2002: '' Everything Waits to Be Noticed'' (with

and Buddy Mondlock)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Maia American women country singers American country singer-songwriters California State University, Northridge alumni American lesbian musicians American LGBT singers LGBT songwriters Living people Singer-songwriters from California Year of birth missing (living people) LGBT people from California 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Country musicians from California 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people