Laurie BerknerLaurie Berkner (born March, 1969, in Neuilly-sur-Seine

Neuilly-sur-Seine

Neuilly-sur-Seine is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Although Neuilly is technically a suburb of Paris, it is immediately adjacent to the city and directly extends it. The area is composed of mostly wealthy, select residential...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 of American parents) is an American musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 best known for her work as a children's musical artist

Children's music

Children's music is used here to refer to music composed and performed for children by adults. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment...

. Berkner plays guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and sings in the Laurie Berkner Band, along with pianist

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 Susie Lampert, bassist

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 Adam Bernstein, and drummer Bobby Golden. She is a popular artist in the Kindie rock

Kindie rock

Kindie rock is a style of children's music that "melds the sensibility of the singer-songwriter with themes aimed at kids under 10." Many popular kindie rock artists today are those whot were first well-known as adult performers: these include Dan Zanes and They Might Be Giants...

 genre.

Biography

Growing up in Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

, Berkner was involved in choirs, bands and musical theater. As a student at Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

, she toured Europe as a choir soloist and an orchestral guitar player. After working as a summer-camp music counselor, she spent several years as a children's music specialist for day care centers and preschools in the New York area.

In 1992, she began to perform as a professional rock

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...

 musician, playing in an all-female cover band called Lois Lane. When she started a band that played original music, Red Onion (Berkner, Brian Mueller, Adam Bernstein and Alan Lerner), she found song-writing to be a struggle—a problem that disappeared when she started writing children's music. "Writing music for kids has not been a struggle at all," Berkner has said. "The more I started working on material for children, the more I realized that it opened up creativity in me that I never knew I had."

Some of her first performances as a children's musician were birthday party gigs at $125 a show. "Those days were intense,” she told The New York Times. “I used to arrive early and memorize every child’s name, so I could feel like I knew them.”

In 1997, working with Susie Lampert, Mueller and guest bassist Adam Bernstein, she put out her first album, Whaddaya Think of That? as a cassette-only release. She had been encouraged to record by the parents of the children she worked with. "The children were really responding to the music we created together," she said. The album contained original songs like "We Are the Dinosaurs" and "I Know a Chicken", along with covers of classics like "The Cat Came Back" and "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimoweh" and originally as "Mbube", is a song recorded by Solomon Linda and his group The Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. It was covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including The Weavers,...

".

In 1998, Berkner formed her own independent record company, Two Tomatoes Records, to release her second album, Buzz Buzz, which includes such Berkner standards as "Pig on Her Head" and "Monster Boogie". With 1999's Victor Vito, Berkner achieved national fame, appearing on the FX network's American Baby Show and winning a Parent's Guide to Children's Media Award. Her latest album is Rocketship Run, which came out in August 2008.

Berkner's audience increased dramatically when she appeared on The Today Show in 2001. Since then, she has played in high-profile locations such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; she has also played at the White House Easter Egg Roll. Berkner also played a free concert in Central Park to celebrate Earth Day, which was attended by fifteen thousand people.

Mueller, who is married to Berkner, left the band in 2006 "to keep the couple’s personal and professional lives separate", and was replaced by Adam Bernstein. In 2008, Bobby Golden became the band's drummer after producing Rocketship Run," as well as "We Are The Laurie Berkner Band" and all of her songs for Jack's Big Music Show.

Her music is generally in a major key and in what Berkner calls the "human tempo": 100-120 beats per minute, the speed of walking or marching. Her lyrics have been called "self-effacing and occasionally confessional".

Berkner was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards

The Independent Music Awards

The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....

 to support independent artists' careers.

Other media

Berkner regularly appears on Nick Jr. (with Lampert and Bernstein), a television network aimed at children, in music videos played between programs and on the program Jack's Big Music Show

Jack's Big Music Show

Jack's Big Music Show is a children's television program currently airing on the Nick Jr. television network. The show premiered on the same network on September 12, 2005...

. Berkner has also appeared in Jamarama Live!, a touring music festival for children sponsored by Noggin, and in the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...

. In 2009, she was featured on Ziggy Marley

Ziggy Marley

David "Ziggy" Marley is a Jamaican musician and leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. He is the oldest son of famed reggae musician Bob Marley...

's children's album Family Time in a song called "Future Man, Future Lady".

Berkner has written two children's books: Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco, based on her song "Victor Vito", and Story of My Feelings. She has also put out a video and DVD, We Are...The Laurie Berkner Band; the DVD, has sold more than 400,000 copies since its 2006 release.

Albums

• Whaddaya Think of That? (1997)

1. We Are the Dinosaurs
2. Doodlebugs
3. Down Down Baby
4. She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
5. Bring Your Clothes
6. I'm a Little Snowflake
7. The Animal Fair
8. What Falls in the Fall
9. These Are My Glasses
10. ABCD Medley
11. I Know a Chicken
12. Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
13. I Love My Rooster
14. The Cat Came Back
15. Can You Imagine
16. (I'm Gonna Eat) On Thanksgiving Day
17. All the Pretty Little Horses
18. The Airplane Song
19. 123
20. Last Night I Had a Dream
21. The Great Big Dog
    • Buzz, Buzz (1998)
22. I Really Love to Dance
23. The Pretzel Store
24. Pig On Her Head
25. I've Been Working on the Railroad
26. Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)
27. Telephone
28. There's a Little Wheel A-Turnin' In My Heart
29. Monster Boogie
30. In the Clouds
31. The Cookie Bakers of the Night
32. The More We Get Together
33. I'm a Mess
34. Ice Cream Cone
35. Clean It Up
36. Little Red Caboose
37. Rum Sun Sum
38. Magic Box
39. The Valley of Vegetables
40. Popcorn Calling Me
41. Lots of Little Pigs
42. The Erie Canal
43. I Had a Friend
    • Victor Vito (1999)
44. Victor Vito
45. Bottle Caps
46. Moon Moon Moon
47. Froggie Went A-Courtin'
48. I'm Not Perfect
49. The Toy Museum
50. O Susannah
51. BOOTS
52. Oleanna
53. The Crabs
54. Sneaks
55. The Goldfish
56. Zodiac
57. Trucks
58. Fruit Salad Salsa
59. The Story of My Feelings
60. I Feel Crazy So I Jump in the Soup
61. Shakin' Down the Sugar
62. Googleheads
63. Tingolayo
64. White Coral Bells
65. Goodnight
    • Under a Shady Tree
      Under a Shady Tree
      Under a Shady Tree is the Two Tomatoes Records and Capitol Records album by children's musician Laurie Berkner. It was released in November 2002, and distributed by Universal Records.-Track listing:#Under a Shady Tree#Rhubarb Pie ...
      
       (2002)
66. Under a Shady Tree
67. Rhubarb Pie (Hot Commodity)
68. Mister
69. Drive My Car
70. I'm Gonna Catch You
71. Just Like the Sun
72. Mahalo
73. I'm Me and You're You
74. Choc-o-lot in My Pock-o-lot
75. Shortnin' Bread
76. Running Down the Hill
77. My Energy
78. After it Rains
79. Do the Dragon
80. Song in My Tummy
81. This Hat
82. Who's That?
83. Smile
84. Boody Boody Ya Ya Ya
85. Blow a Kiss
    • Rocketship Run (2008)
86. Rocketship Run
87. Going on a Hunt (ska)
88. Mouse in My Toolbox
89. Candy Cane Jane
90. All Around My Room
91. One More Stop on the Train
92. Going on a Hunt
93. Jump and Fly
94. Pigbasket
95. Five Days Old
96. Mr. Bassman (and Piano Girl)
97. Winter Lullaby
98. Let's Samba
99. Going on a Hunt (conga)
100. My Blue Sailboat
101. Balance Beam
102. Thunderstorm
103. Fast and Slow (The Rabbit and the Turtle)
104. Going on a Hunt (jig)
105. Farm Song (That's What I Did on the Farm)
106. Nona
107. Walk Along the River
108. Going on a Hunt (hand jive)
109. Fly Me to the Moon
     • The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band (2010)
110. Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)
111. Rocketship Run
112. Victor Vito
113. We Are the Dinosaurs
114. I'm Gonna Catch You
115. Moon Moon Moon
116. Pig on her Head
117. Fast and Slow (The Rabbit and the Turtle)
118. I'm Not Perfect
119. I Really Love to Dance
120. BOOTS
121. Five Days Old
122. The Goldfish
123. Monster Boogie
124. Song in My Tummy
125. I Know a Chicken
126. Under a Shady Tree
127. Pig on Her Head (alternate version)
128. Moon Moon Moon (alternate version)
129. Open Your Heart

Videos

• Laurie Berkner's Video Songbook (2001)
• We Are...The Laurie Berkner Band
  We Are...The Laurie Berkner Band
  "We Are....The Laurie Berkner Band is the triple-platinum children's music DVD by The Laurie Berkner Band. This is the band's first DVD release, following their four best-selling CDs....
  
   (2006)
• Let's Hear It for the Laurie Berkner Band (2010)

Books

• Victor Vito and Freddie Vasco (2004)
• Story of My Feelings (2007)
• The Laurie Berkner Songbook (2007)

External links

• Laurie Berkner Website; includes a biography
• Jack's Big Music Show; features several Laurie Berkner videos