Bio

Songwriter, Lead vocalist, rhythm guitar & violin

Olivea was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York where family farms are deeply routed in Olivea's soul. She later moved to Manhattan where she studied violin, finished her education and also worked mostly as a solo singer/songwriter. In 2002 she moved to Los Angeles where she quickly assembled an awesome group of musicians to get her music out, to the world. Tragedy halted all work on the band's first record when guitarist/producer, and close friend, Michael Hakes [Edgar Winter, Natalie Cole, Cher] was diagnosed with, and subsequently passed away from, acute leukemia. Several months passed, resulting in Olivea regrouping in the studio with her current band of seasoned musicians: Guitarist Doug Pettibone (Jewel, Lucinda Williams, Tracy Chapman), Guitarist Tim Burlingame (Kathrin Shorr), Skip Edwards (Lucinda Williams, Michelle Shocked, Roy Orbison/KD Lang) on keyboards, David McKelvy (Brian Wilson, Stanley Clark) on harmonica, session pianist Eric Abrahamson, Xavier Marquez on rhythm guitar, Otis Hayes (Ice-T, John Lydon) and Shawn Nourse (Dwight Yoakam) on drums; George Martin (formerly with Earth, Wind & Fire) on percussion; and Marcus Giamatti (Rebel Soul Band, Jeff Laine) on bass.

In addition to playing rhythm guitar, Olivea is also a classically trained violinist. She began violin lessons at the age of 5 and has studied with well-known blues violinist Julie Lieberman. Although Olivea's inspiration has come from artists as diverse as Tracy Chapman, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Etta James, among many others, she still traces the roots, the soul of all of her melodies and lyrics back to the blues. And although her music has been categorized as alternative folk rock, it truly knows no boundaries. The essence of Olivea's music -- her introspective lyrics and musings, her rhythms that are both meditative and disquieting, her lulling, sultry voice -- is an experience that transcends any category.

Olivea and partner/bassist Marcus Giamatti have just finished her 12 song record at Mad Dog Studios in Los Angeles. The record was produced and engineered by Dusty Wakeman (Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked). It is a representation of Olivea's life in the last 2 years.