Suzan Baker: June 2007

Suzan self-educated herself to play the guitar when she was 12 and when she was 15 - and a very frustrated teenager - she discovered that she could vent some steam by writing her own lyrics. In 1992 Suzan seized the opportunity to go live on stage for the very first time as lead singer of the country band Roadhouse. It didn't take long until Suzan met other musicians who were not confined to country music but with whom she could perform rock, blues, pop as well as her own songs and this led to the founding of Suzan Baker Band in 1994.

The cover band has got a full schedule all year round but Suzan wants more. She takes up playing the mandolin, she takes piano lessons and continuously works on her own material. "I really wanted to learn how to play the piano - playing the piano is a source of inspiration to me when writing lyrics and composing", she says. And so she comes up with songs like "The Fairy" - "this is a little track I wrote for myself - I was really feeling low at the time - and 'The Fairy' is a beautiful melody that invites you to lose yourself in reverie and to take time to unwind.

"Skinny Minnie" on the other hand is a very catchy rock song, "Little Hearts" and "Holy Daddy" are both based on her own feelings and experiences and then there is the very tongue in cheek track "Bandits" - "this kind of sums up my country phase very nicely - it is like Sergio Leone meets Kid Rock. I have a passion for music and everything I ever experienced somehow reflects in my music". All songs featured on the album are unique in their own way - the topics they deal with are just as diverse as the individual musical approach is - they reflect Suzan's very own views on the world - they really are: "The Loudest Thoughts Ever".

And these songs sit in the upper drawer of her desk until Suzan finally screws up her courage in 2004 and sends her demos to Felix Weber. Felix Weber and Irmgard Klarmann teamed up as a songwriter and producer team at the beginning of the 1990ies and they have worked with many renowned artists like Chaka Khan, Randy Crawford, Tony Braxton and jazz legend Nancy Wilson. Billboard magazine even called them "the most successful German songwriters" (June 1992). In 1999 they moved to the U.S. and set up Felix-Weber-Productions in Ohio.

"When I think back, I always seem to remember Felix being mentioned in connection with the big names, but he just loved the material I sent him", says Suzan. And in the following 10 months they were pretty busy listening to material, recording vocals, re-evaluating and making decisions until they decided on the 10 tracks to be included on the album. "It was hard work, but we also had a lot of fun and picked up on each other's ideas. Felix immediately sensed the musical direction I wanted to take and the songs still sound like Suzan Baker. I am really, really happy with what we achieved." And yes, everything in life does tend to happen in its own time and in its own capricious way.

Suzan Baker

Monday, June 25, 2007

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