Diane Birch – Bible Belt

If you are into blues and soul music and if you didn’t know Diane Birch, you are missing out on quite a bunch! As with most of the new music I have discovered, she made her appearance on David Letterman show and like many had said her voice is both familiarity and a breath of fresh air to the music industry.

Many have also compared her vocals as the modern Carole King, Norah Jones and Diana Ross, but it’s no doubt she has come up with her own unique style of music and her debut album Bible Belt has brilliantly proven that. Billboard quoted her as “2009 ones to watch”, Huffington Post calls her the “future of singer-songwriters” and many critics has given the thumbs up to her music as well.

There are more than a few songs that kept me playing her album, and it’s musically clever that most of them are easy on the ears on any time of the day for example Fire Escape, Fools, Nothing But a Miracle, Rewind and Mirror Mirror, Ariel. Indeed, Diane Birch’s music is nothing but a miracle and I’m a big fan already. You can grab more of her music on her official youtube channel or her album Bible Belt on Yesasia.

Diane Birch is an American singer-songwriter born in Michigan, USA on January 24, 1983. Diane spent her childhood in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sydney, Australia. Her father was a 7th Day Adventist preacher and took his family wherever he worked. When she was ten, her family returned to the United States, and settled in Portland, Oregon.

Birch began studying piano using the Suzuki method at the age of seven. When she was old enough to leave home, she moved to Los Angeles and pursued work as a “pianist for hire”. Eventually she landed gigs at the Beverly Hotel and L’Orangerie. Prince heard her playing at the Polo Lounge in 2006 and invited her to jam with him and his band at his home. After being discovered on MySpace, Birch moved to London where she signed a publishing deal and wrote a majority of her debut album. In 2007, she moved to New York after signing to Steve Greenberg’s S-Curve Records.

Birch says that she was not exposed to pop music and culture as a child because her religious and conservative parents did not approve of secular music. She had only heard opera, classical music and music she had heard in church (Hymns) before she arrived back in America aged 11. She cites church hymns as a large influence on her song writing both lyrically and musically.

Birch plays piano, Wurlitzer, (Fender) Rhodes (with whom she has an endorsement deal) and guitar. – Wikipedia

Related posts:

1. Diane Birch – Valentino “Behind The Screen”