Beth Thornley is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

.

Biography

Beth Thornley was born in Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

 and attended the now closed L. Frazier Banks High School. She later went to Samford University

Samford University

Samford University, founded as Howard College is a private, coeducational, Alabama Baptist Convention-affiliated university located in Homewood, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It includes the , Cumberland School of Law, McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Brock School of Business, Ida V....

 and studied classical music where she earned a degree in music education. After graduating, she decided she would like to explore the world of rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

, so she moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and joined the music scene.

Music

Her influences include The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

, Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...

, Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, Ben Folds

Ben Folds

Benjamin Scott "Ben" Folds is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and television personality. From 1995-2000, Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five. Since the group disbanded, Folds has performed as a solo artist and has toured all over the world...

 and Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...

. Thornley's second album, My Glass Eye, contains two songs not written by Thornley or Rob Cairns; "Got The Time" (Joe Jackson

Joe Jackson (musician)

Joe Jackson is an English musician and singer-songwriter now living in Berlin, whose five Grammy Award nominations span from 1979 to 2001...

) and "Eleanor Rigby

Eleanor Rigby

"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...

" (The Beatles).

Career

According to the biography on Thornley's web site, when she first moved to Los Angeles she took advice from a vocal coach who told her "There are a million singers out there. But if you want any control you’ve got to be a songwriter, not just a singer".
Some of her achievements and recognitions include:

• Paste Magazine - featured in "4 to Watch" 10/06.
• USA Songwriting Contest 2006 - Top 10 finalist - rock category.
• ASCAP Lester Sill Workshop - 2006.
• International Songwriting Contest 2006 - Semi finalist - Americana category.
• Performing Songwriter Magazine - DIY Spotlight Sept./Oct. 2004.
• USA Songwriting Contest 2004 - Top 10 finalist - rock category.
• DIY Music Festival "Album of the Year" winner 2004 for "Beth Thornley".
• Artist For Literacy - song selected for Volume III.

Thornley's band is a fluid line-up of musicians that contribute to both live shows and records. The players on her first album, Beth Thornley, were Thornley, Rob Cairns and Rob Disner.

My Glass Eye had a wider group of musicians and singers including Cairns (drums, bass, guitar, synth, keys, accordion, backing vocals), Thornley (piano, accordion, tambourine), Sheldon Gomberg (bass), Mark Browne (bass), Disner (guitar), Michael Bluestein (piano), Jeff Lane (backing vocals), Richard Dodd (cello), Daphne Chen (viola), Leah Katz (viola), Patricia Thornley (backing vocals) Mark Ferik (backing vocals), plus Robert Kelley (clapping), and Paul Trejo (clapping).

The line-up for live shows varies but has included Thornley (keys/vocals), Cairns (guitar, keys) Karen Teperberg (drums), Gomberg (bass), Disner (guitar), Vivi Rama (bass), Mark Browne (bass), and Maria Scherer (cello).

Discography

• Beth's eponymous debut album was released in 2003.

Track Listing:

• "I Will Lie" (Beth)
• "You Made It So" (Beth)
• "Sunshine and Celluloid" (music: Beth/Rob Cairns, lyrics: Beth)
• "Arrogance" (Beth)
• "How Many Days" (Beth)
• "Don't Save Me" (Beth)
• "Talkin' Like An Angel" (music: Beth/Rob Cairns, lyrics: Beth)
• "Lucky You" (Beth)
• "Go Baby Go" (Beth)
• "Break U N 2" (music: Beth/Rob Cairns, lyrics: Beth)
• My Glass Eye was released in August 2006.

Track listing:

• "Stand" (Beth)
• "Beautiful Lie" (Beth)
• "Mr. Lovely" (Beth)
• "You're Right Where" (Beth)
• "Once" (Beth)
• "Double-Wide" (Beth)
• "Home By Now" (Beth)
• "Got The Time" (Joe Jackson)
• "Bound" (music: Beth/Rob Cairns, lyrics: Beth)
• "My Glass Eye" (Beth)
• "Birmingham" (music: Rob Cairns, lyrics: Beth)
• "Done" (Beth)
• "Eleanor Rigby" (Paul McCartney/John Lennon)
• Wash U Clean was the third album released in February 2010.

Track listing:

• "Wash U Clean"
• "Still Can't Hide"
• "Everyone Falls"
• "It's Me"
• "You're So Pony"
• "What the Heart Wants"
• "Bones"
• "There's No Way"
• "Never Your Girl"
• "A to Z"

Film and television

Thornley has contributed songs to several TV programmes and films:

• Royal Pains
  Royal Pains
  Royal Pains is a USA Network television series that premiered on June 4, 2009, starring Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint and Reshma Shetty. The series is based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies...
  
  - Episode 307 — "You're So Pony"
• Between - produced by Opus Films — "You're Right Where"
• Scrubs
  Scrubs (TV series)
  Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
  
  - Season 1 DVD — "I Will Lie"
• Trollz.com Web site — "Break U N 2" and "Sunshine and Celluloid"
• Beautiful People - Episode 102 on ABC Family — "Go Baby Go"
• The Perfect Man
  The Perfect Man
  The Perfect Man is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Mark Rosman and written by Gina Wendkos. It stars Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear and Chris Noth. Filming of the movie began in May 2004...
  
  - Hilary Duff
  Hilary Duff
  Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
  
   movie — "If You Got What You Came For"
• Book of Ruth - CBS movie of the week — "It's a Cruel Thing"
• It Must Be Love - CBS movie of the week — "I Will Lie"
• The Chris Isaak Show
  The Chris Isaak Show
  The Chris Isaak Show is a television sitcom which follows a fictionalized version of the life of American rock musician Chris Isaak. The show portrays Isaak and his band members as everyday people with everyday problems...
  
  - Episode 303 — "I Will Lie"
• Felicity Season 4 DVD — "I Will Lie"
• Thieves on ABC — "Girl in Uniform"
• New Ride with Josh and Emily - M5 Entertainment — "Sunshine and Celluloid"
• Dawson's Creek
  Dawson's Creek
  Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
  
  - Season 2 DVD —"You Made It So"
• Friday Night Lights
  Friday Night Lights (TV series)
  Friday Night Lights is an American sports drama television series adapted by Peter Berg, Brian Grazer and David Nevins from a book and film of the same name. The series details events surrounding a high school football team based in fictional Dillon, Texas, with particular focus given to team...
  
  - Season 1, Episode 17 - "Sunshine and Celluloid"

External links

• Official Site: http://www.beththornley.com
• ASCAP Audio Portrait: http://www.ascap.com/audioportraits/beth_thornley.html
• Podshow Network: http://www.podshow.com/music/?artist_id=3341
• Audio Interview: http://conforme.podemus.com/2006/08/