Lauren O'Connell
Encyclopedia
Lauren O'Connell is a singer/songwriter from Rochester, New York
. She has released two full length solo albums and one EP as a duo with Nataly Dawn. She began uploading videos of herself performing original songs on YouTube
soon after releasing her debut album Sitting in Chairs. Her first videos were simple one takes with just a guitar, but they soon progressed to layered harmonies and accompaniment, usually with O'Connell playing all of the instruments herself. Many of her fans cite her appearances in videos with other YouTube artists, mainly those with best friend Julia Nunes
, as what first drew them to her music.
Shortly after releasing Sitting In Chairs O'Connell began attending Binghamton University
. Throughout her freshman year she continued to write and perform. She performed many shows with her best friend Julia Nunes. In late 2008 she decided to leave school and pursue music full time. She then began recording her follow up album The Shakes, which was released in early 2009. During the summer of 2009 O'Connell met Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose
when they came to New York to produce Nunes' I Think You Know EP. After deciding that she wanted a change of scenery in early 2010, O'Connell moved to Rohnert Park, California
where she moved in with Conte and Dawn. A few months after moving to California she and Dawn began a collaboration called My Terrible Friend. The duo recorded an EP titled Room for Ghosts in their home studio and released it through iTunes
and their Myspace
page on July 7, 2010. On July 20, 2010 O'Connell and Dawn were featured on the YouTube homepage for Music Tuesday, both individually and as My Terrible Friend.
member Mark Owen
and English actress Emma Ferguson
in Cawdor Church, Scotland. Ferguson, a fan of Rufus Wainwright
, discovered Nataly Dawn's cover of Wainwright's song "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and invited Dawn to play the song at the wedding. She then discovered Pomplamoose and O'Connell and Dawn's "The Daylight Here" and invited Jack Conte and O'Connell to play as well. On September 3, 2010 O'Connell, Dawn, and Julia Nunes played a free show for students of Dawson College
at the Le National Bar in Montreal. The show was hosted by the Dawson Student Union. Each played solo sets and in various combinations. It was O'Connell and Dawn's first performance as My Terrible Friend.
Newsong Contest. On October 22, 2010 she joined eleven other finalists from across America and Canada at Arts World Financial Center's Wintergarden in New York City for the Award Round performance competition and an opportunity to record an EP with Grammy winning producer Jacquire King
.
in order to give fans an opportunity to help fund studio time, with the goal of being in the studio sometime in January 2011. In return for pledging O'Connell decided to include personalized merchandise ranging from autographed cds and t-shirts, handwritten lyrics, and hand-drawn artwork to house concerts, her personal iPod filled with music, and even grocery shopping or mini-golf with the pledger when she comes to their city for a show. The project was set for a sixty day pledge period, however fan pledges exceeded the target amount in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest Pledgemusic project ever to reach it's goal. One week later she added more of the incentives that sold out quickly as well as new incentives like the harmonicas she uses for her videos and albums, a Photoshop vacation photo with the pledger, and a volleyball painted with the pledger's face in the style of "Wilson" from the movie Cast Away
, joking that her New Year's resolution was to make progressively weirder arts and crafts. The project raised 268% of the original goal by the time it concluded on February 14, 2011.
Track List
Track List
and "Holy Roller Novocaine" by Kings Of Leon
.
Track List
with her video cover of his song "Grand Opinion" and was featured the next day on the Filter magazine
website for the contest win. She has also made guest appearances in songs and videos with other YouTube artists. Though she generally uses traditional instruments in her songs, O'Connell has sometimes used unconventional means when recording, including waterglasses, a metal tool cabinet, kicks to a garage door, a tennis racket covered in change, and even a deck of playing cards.
Originals
Covers
Collaborations
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. She has released two full length solo albums and one EP as a duo with Nataly Dawn. She began uploading videos of herself performing original songs on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
soon after releasing her debut album Sitting in Chairs. Her first videos were simple one takes with just a guitar, but they soon progressed to layered harmonies and accompaniment, usually with O'Connell playing all of the instruments herself. Many of her fans cite her appearances in videos with other YouTube artists, mainly those with best friend Julia Nunes
Julia Nunes
Julia Nunes is a singer and songwriter from Fairport, New York. Her career has progressed online through her videos of pop songs on YouTube in which she sings harmony with herself and plays acoustic instruments, primarily the ukulele, guitar, melodica and piano.-Biography:Nunes was born into a...
, as what first drew them to her music.
Biography
O'Connell's music career began after coming across her father's old guitar in the basement one day when she was thirteen. After learning a few chords from her dad and messing around with the guitar for a while, she got serious about playing and began taking lessons, writing her first song by the age of fifteen. After spending some time playing coffeehouse shows, in 2007 O'Connell went to Saxon Recording in Rochester, New York at the suggestion of a friend and recorded her debut album Sitting In Chairs. She recorded the entire album acoustic in one day.Shortly after releasing Sitting In Chairs O'Connell began attending Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
. Throughout her freshman year she continued to write and perform. She performed many shows with her best friend Julia Nunes. In late 2008 she decided to leave school and pursue music full time. She then began recording her follow up album The Shakes, which was released in early 2009. During the summer of 2009 O'Connell met Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose
Pomplamoose
Pomplamoose is an American indie music duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. The band formed in the summer of 2008 and sold approximately 100,000 songs online in 2009.-Etymology:...
when they came to New York to produce Nunes' I Think You Know EP. After deciding that she wanted a change of scenery in early 2010, O'Connell moved to Rohnert Park, California
Rohnert Park, California
Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2010 United States Census was 40,971. It is an early planned city, modeled directly after Levittown, New York and Levittown, Pennsylvania. Rohnert Park is the...
where she moved in with Conte and Dawn. A few months after moving to California she and Dawn began a collaboration called My Terrible Friend. The duo recorded an EP titled Room for Ghosts in their home studio and released it through iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and their Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page on July 7, 2010. On July 20, 2010 O'Connell and Dawn were featured on the YouTube homepage for Music Tuesday, both individually and as My Terrible Friend.
YouTube and shows outside of the US
Though O'Connell's fanbase was initially centered around the local area where she performed, the use of social media such as Myspace and YouTube videos exposed her music to a much wider audience. Through these sites she has gained fans in many countries and, as evidenced by the comments on her Myspace page and YouTube channel, given them a forum to request shows throughout America and in their respective countries. Although most of her shows have been in America, she has played a few outside of the country. In April 2009 she was scheduled to play two free shows in London, but was detained by Customs and forced to cancel them. Customs agents allowed her to leave and stay the night with a friend, but deported her the next day. On November 8, 2009 she played with Pomplamoose at the wedding of Take ThatTake That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
member Mark Owen
Mark Owen
Mark Anthony Patrick Owen , is an English singer-songwriter. He is a member of pop band Take That. The band were hugely successful during the 1990s and have enjoyed even more success since their reunion in 2005...
and English actress Emma Ferguson
Emma Ferguson
Emma Ferguson is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role in the series Mile High with co-stars Naomi Ryan and Jo Anne Knowles, but Ferguson has also had major roles in the TV movie The Brides in the Bath and in the miniseries North and South.-Biography:Emma Ferguson is...
in Cawdor Church, Scotland. Ferguson, a fan of Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, discovered Nataly Dawn's cover of Wainwright's song "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and invited Dawn to play the song at the wedding. She then discovered Pomplamoose and O'Connell and Dawn's "The Daylight Here" and invited Jack Conte and O'Connell to play as well. On September 3, 2010 O'Connell, Dawn, and Julia Nunes played a free show for students of Dawson College
Dawson College
Dawson College was the first English CEGEP and is located in Westmount, just west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dawson College is located near the heart of downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on 4.85 hectares of green space...
at the Le National Bar in Montreal. The show was hosted by the Dawson Student Union. Each played solo sets and in various combinations. It was O'Connell and Dawn's first performance as My Terrible Friend.
Mountain Stage Newsong Contest
In September 2010 O'Connell was chosen as the West Regional Winner of the 2010 Mountain StageMountain Stage
Mountain Stage is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by WV Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio and the Voice of America's satellite radio service. Hosted by Larry Groce, the program showcases diverse music, from the traditional to modern...
Newsong Contest. On October 22, 2010 she joined eleven other finalists from across America and Canada at Arts World Financial Center's Wintergarden in New York City for the Award Round performance competition and an opportunity to record an EP with Grammy winning producer Jacquire King
Jacquire King
Jacquire King is a record producer, mix engineer, songwriter/musician, and artist manager. Some of the artists he has worked with include Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Mutemath, Cold War Kids, Norah Jones, Tim Finn and Buddy Guy. He is a multiple Grammy Award winner and nominee...
.
Pledgemusic
On December 14, 2010 O'Connell announced that she was raising money to record a new album and was working with PledgemusicPledgemusic
PledgeMusic is an online Direct-to-Fan / Fan-funded music platform utilising a Threshold Pledge System / Provision Point Mechanism, launched in August 2009, that facilitates musicians reaching out to their fan-base to financially contribute to upcoming recordings or other musical projects...
in order to give fans an opportunity to help fund studio time, with the goal of being in the studio sometime in January 2011. In return for pledging O'Connell decided to include personalized merchandise ranging from autographed cds and t-shirts, handwritten lyrics, and hand-drawn artwork to house concerts, her personal iPod filled with music, and even grocery shopping or mini-golf with the pledger when she comes to their city for a show. The project was set for a sixty day pledge period, however fan pledges exceeded the target amount in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest Pledgemusic project ever to reach it's goal. One week later she added more of the incentives that sold out quickly as well as new incentives like the harmonicas she uses for her videos and albums, a Photoshop vacation photo with the pledger, and a volleyball painted with the pledger's face in the style of "Wilson" from the movie Cast Away
Cast Away
Cast Away is a 2000 drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx employee stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in the South Pacific. The film depicts his successful attempts to survive on the island using remnants of his plane's cargo, as well as his...
, joking that her New Year's resolution was to make progressively weirder arts and crafts. The project raised 268% of the original goal by the time it concluded on February 14, 2011.
Sitting In Chairs
O'Connell's debut album was recorded at Saxon Recording in Rochester, New York in early 2007. Sitting In Chairs was recorded in just one day, single-tracked with an acoustic guitar.Track List
- Sitting In Chairs
- Levers and Gears
- Good Intentions
- My Equations
- I'm All Talk
- Chimney Smoke
- Just Be
- All the Perching Crows
- Somewhere In Between
- There Will Be
The Shakes
O'Connell's second album was recorded in late 2008 in Rochester, New York at GFI Music. It was released in early 2009. Unlike her previous album, The Shakes features accompaniment, including horns, strings, and piano.Track List
- From Chambers, Slow
- Chicken Wire
- The Pilot
- Things I Panic About
- I Don't Mind
- Bystander
- Oncoming Traffic
- 1988
- Sweet Lament
- Tangled Up Kites
Room for Ghosts
In the summer of 2010 O'Connell collaborated with her roommate Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose and the duo released Room for Ghosts as My Terrible Friend in July 2010. The five track EP was recorded in their home studio and includes three original songs, as well as covers of "Diamonds and Gold" by Tom WaitsTom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and "Holy Roller Novocaine" by Kings Of Leon
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion, Oklahoma but formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill , Ivan Nathan Followill and Michael Jared Followill Kings of Leon is an American rock band that originated in Albion,...
.
Track List
- When I Decide
- Diamonds and Gold
- Holy Roller Novocaine
- The Daylight Here
- Dying to Live
Singles, covers, and guest appearances
Between albums O'Connell has released individual original songs and covers, some as both downloads and videos and some as videos only. On November 19, 2009 she won the Grand Opinion video contest held by singer/songwriter AMAM (musician)
AM is an American songwriter, musician, composer and producer born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised in New Orleans, and currently residing in the Los Angeles Echo Park neighborhood in California. AM or A.M. refers to his band and is also the moniker for this artist...
with her video cover of his song "Grand Opinion" and was featured the next day on the Filter magazine
Filter (magazine)
FILTER, the publication that promises us that "Good music will prevail," is a seasonal American music and off-beat entertainment magazine. It features commentary and photos of up-and-coming musicians and filmmakers ranging from actors to writer-directors...
website for the contest win. She has also made guest appearances in songs and videos with other YouTube artists. Though she generally uses traditional instruments in her songs, O'Connell has sometimes used unconventional means when recording, including waterglasses, a metal tool cabinet, kicks to a garage door, a tennis racket covered in change, and even a deck of playing cards.
Originals
- In The Trees
- It Wasn't You
- What Breaks (And What Doesn't)
- The Same Things (feat. Julia Nunes)
- White Noise
- Maybe True Stories
- I Belong to You (with Ryan Lerman)
Covers
- The Devil is Real- Felice Brothers
- Marry Song (with Carly Morgan)- Band of HorsesBand of HorsesBand of Horses, originally briefly known as Horses, are an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle by Ben Bridwell. They have released three studio albums, the most recent and most successful of which is 2010's Grammy nominated Infinite Arms...
- I'm On Fire- Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
- I Am Trying to Break Your Heart- WilcoWilcoWilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John...
- Flint (with Aaron Celentano)- Sufjan StevensSufjan StevensSufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...
- Grand Opinion- AM
- O DeathO DeathO Death, also known as O, Death, Oh Death and Conversations with Death is a traditional Appalachian dirge originating from southern Appalachia....
- Traditional Song - The Way I Feel Inside- The ZombiesThe ZombiesThe Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
- The One I Love Is Gone- Bill MonroeBill MonroeWilliam Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
- All I Have to Do is Dream- Everly Brothers
Collaborations
- Couches In My Head- Benjamin Jameson Morey
- I Was Very Small In Her Stomach- Benjamin Jameson Morey
- Bubbly (Colby Caillat cover)- Julia Nunes
- It's The End Of The World As We Know It (R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
Cover)- Julia Nunes