Don't let her stunning vocals distract you from her real innovation: this New York singer-songwriter is making a seriously fresh cross of operatic indie pop, warm soul, and silky R&B. Mumbly seductions cede to grand arias and bouncy beats trade with showbiz horns as Smith evokes Sarah Vaughn, Citizen Cope, and Rufus Wainwright in one breath.
Alice Smith is a NYC-based chanteuse, with a 4-octave vocal range, who's infecting New York City with her refreshing and unique sound. Her soon to be released, debut album, "For Lovers, Dreamers & Me", (early 2006) sets Rock & Pop music along a vocal landscape that evokes influences from a broad spectrum of artists such as, Patti Labelle, Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Barbara Streisand and Billie Holiday. Alice is taking chances while delivering an accessible blend through her take on the common ground between different musical genres. As she herself explains, "I'm full of contradictions? Which doesn't bother me, as long as I'm being honest about it."
Raised between Washington DC and her grandmother?s farm in Augusta Georgia, Alice now lives in New York City. The various locales make sense to a city girl who admits to being ?country at heart,? and also influence her sound. Alice?s musical influences are as diverse as her album having grown up listening to Go-Go, Country, Classic Rock, Blues, Jazz and Gospel music. In the early 2000s, while she was wrapping up her studies at Fordham University, she sang with Greg Tate?s improv band, Moomtez, that drew upon a broad range of influences and was a part of the Black Rock Coalition. The experience was great for Alice, but only the start of her journey towards finding her sound. As Alice explains ?It just ended up not being all of me.?
The sound Alice has developed with her debut album ?For Lovers, Dreamers & Me,? is a happy marriage of: her bluesy, soulful vocals balanced by mid-tempo grooves. It?s also an extension of the groundbreaking work created by music pioneers, Ike & Tina Turner. Highlights of the album include: ?Do I?, which touches on the struggle to avoid sadness after a complicated breakup, ?New Religion? and ?Fake is The New Real?, songs about people yearning for something real, and ?Woodstock,? a fun, funky song about ditching the city for the fresh air upstate?something Alice does quite often.
Alice Smith is the embodiment of the fact that Rock and Pop music come from the soul. As she explains ? For Lovers, Dreamers & Me is about pure emotion, and being honest in whatever context you?re in.? Not limited to just being a pupil of her diverse influences, Alice represents the true definition of an artist by taking chances, rejecting categories and going with her heart. The results are a refreshing collection of songs that talk to the soul.