Anna Graceman

Anna Graceman is a young American singer-songwriter and pianist whose self-penned songs and music have gained attention at home and abroad.^[1][2] Her style of music incorporates elements of folk, soul and rock. As of 2016 she had written and performed over 70 of her own published songs; writing as well as producing her releases.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Anna continues to divide her time between her solo projects and her new project - the ‘Graceman’ Band - a trio that includes Allie Graceman (Rhythm/Lead Guitar) and Landon Graceman (Drums).^{[8] [9]} Relix Magazine (Women Who Rock - September 2016 Issue) stated that “The now 16-year-old singer-songwriter, who has recently begun to make her mark in Nashville, writes and produces all her own songs and, over the past couple of years, has brought her younger siblings onboard to form a trio they call 'Graceman'.” ^[10][11] On October 4, 2016 Anna Graceman released the band’s first full length album titled ‘Rebel Days’; written and produced by Anna Graceman.^[12][13] From age 9 to age 16, Anna Graceman made appearances on national and local television; including The Ellen Show,^[14] CBS ^[15] and NBC.^[16] On September 21, 2016, Anna Graceman appeared on NBC with her band 'Graceman' to promote the 'Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival' (30k in attendance).^[17][18]

Early life

Anna Graceman was born in Juneau, Alaska, to a stay-at-home mother, who played classical music to her before she was born. At three months old, Anna Graceman's parents started displaying flashcards for her to read and gain word association. This sparked the love of writing music. By the time she was 18 months old, she had memorized the lyrics of many classical and modern tunes. At the age of two, Graceman was not afraid of singing in front of crowds.^[19] When she was four, she could play the piano fluently. At the age of 6 years old she wrote her first song, "So I Cried".^[20] Graceman states that her family was poor while growing up in Alaska. The mini-van that her mother drove didn't have a working radio or CD player in it, so her mother would sing to her while they were driving. Driving time meant singing time.^[21][22]

In 2009, at the age of 9 years old, Graceman made many appearances on American national television^[23][24] including the The Ellen DeGeneres Show (October 7, 2009) and performed her song "Paradise".^[25] Later in 2011, at the age of 11, she gained wider popularity with her performances in the sixth season of the America's Got Talent competition.^[26] In 2013, she performed 43 shows at The Palazzo Theater in The Venetian Hotel and Resort for eight weeks. Her performances there brought her critical acclaim.^[27] Graceman has a substantial Internet presence. Collectively, her YouTube views exceed 150 million views. Her America's Got Talent audition video alone has over 35 million views as of December 23, 2013.^[28] In 2012, Disney approached Graceman and requested the right to non-exclusively license her early original YouTube videos. They can be found in the video section of Disney's website.^[29]In April 2013, the International Songwriting Competition announced that Graceman had been announced as one of their finalists. The judges include such notable songwriters as Tom Waits, Jeff Beck, Bernie Taupin and Mark Foster^[30] In 2014, Anna Graceman stated that she had moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her songwriting and work with the musicians there.^[31]

On September 2016, Relix Magazine said, "This is hardly a run-of-the-mill adolescence, Graceman has stayed grounded through it all, remembering where she came from and how it all started." ^[32][33]

Singer-songwriter

From the age of 6 to 16, Graceman had reportedly written, released and performed seventy of her songs. Many self released as singles and album compilations.^[34][35] She writes both the lyrics and the melodies for all of her songs,^[36] and typically only sings and performs her own material. Nearly all of her known songs have been released by her on her YouTube^[37] and Soundcloud channels. Her Soundcloud channel appears the most complete, with rare and early versions available.^[38][39][40]

Notable appearances and performances

October 7, 2009 – Ellen: Graceman appeared on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show and performed an original song she wrote called "Paradise".^[41] DeGeneres praised her performance.^[42] Graceman said that her family had been putting videos up on YouTube since April 2008. She uploaded "Paradise" in August 2009. Someone at YouTube took notice of the video, and decided to feature her among a small group of child musicians. After watching Graceman's "Paradise" video, DeGeneres invited her to sing it on the show.^[43] (Graceman said it was great fun and a great experience.) During that episode, DeGeneres invited her back to meet Taylor Swift on a subsequent show.^[44]

April 20, 2010 – 36th Alaska Folk Festival: Graceman performed at the annual festival along with other folk and bluegrass bands. A local reviewer stated, "There were several sets where the young and gifted stole the show, making me realize I was watching Juneau's version of "Who's Got Talent" – particularly when 10-year-old Anna Graceman sang all her original songs."^[45]

Summer, 2011 – America's Got Talent Season Six: At her audition, Graceman performed "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys while accompanying herself on the keyboard. She received a standing ovation from Howie Mandel, Piers Morgan, and Sharon Osborne, the show's three judges.^[46] Her audition video went viral on the Internet and caught the attention of the mainstream press.^[47][48][49] The video garnered over 28 million views on YouTube, the most of any America's Got Talent audition video.^[50] In the Vegas round, Graceman performed "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, again playing the keyboard. In the quarterfinals, she performed "What a Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong). The judges' unanimous acclaim reflected the votes she gained, qualifying her for the semi-finals.^[51][52] Her self-accompanied performance of "Home Sweet Home" (Mötley Crüe) earned her another standing ovation from the judges, and a spot in the Top 10.^{[53][54][55][56][57]} As the competition was becoming tougher and the judges expected more, Graceman went with something different for that round; her song was "True Colors" (Cyndi Lauper), but for the first time on the show, she performed without the keyboard.^[58][59][60] It didn't quite pay off, as she fell short of making the finals.

October 28–30, 2011 – Caesars Palace Colosseum: Graceman participated in America's Got Talent Live along with other season six favorites, including Landon Swank, Team iLuminate, and winner Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.^[61] At the request of Caesars Palace, she returned to the Colosseum for the following New Year's Eve concert.^[62]

October 11, 2012 – The Great American Music Hall: Graceman opened for Grammy-nominated group The Lumineers as part of the INgrooves Fontana ten-year anniversary at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Other notable acts included Caveman, Little Hurricane and The Crystal Method.^[63]

February 25, 2013 – Palazzo-Venetian Theater Residency: Graceman performed at the Palazzo Theatre in the Venetian for seven weeks (43 shows).^[64][65] Famed reporter Robin Leach saw and wrote:

An unexpected teenage star was born Monday when ... Anna Graceman, just 13, stole the show! The triple-threat talent hails from the wilds of Alaska, but she sings well enough to rival Alicia Keys. She also plays piano as grand as Sir Elton John and writes songs as gifted as Adele and her idol, Taylor Swift. Incredibly, it’s her second starring spot on The Strip. As an 11-year-old on Season 6 of the top-rated NBC series, Anna was part of the touring version when it stopped for two nights at Caesars Palace in 2011. Her debut album was released last year. It was an incredible performance Monday night. It won her wild applause and a standing ovation. The pint-sized charmer is one giant talent and here now for seven weeks. I know she will one day return to The Strip headlining in her own right.^[66][67]

August 28, 2014 – Inaugural YouTube Music Night in Los Angeles: Graceman performed at the first YouTube Music Night in Los Angeles. The event was held at the studios in the YoutubeSpaceLA facilities.^[68][69]

October 29, 2014 – Inaugural YouTube Music Night in Nashville, Tennessee: Graceman performed at the first YouTube Music Night in Nashville, Tennessee. The event was held at the Pinewood Social Event Center in downtown Nashville.^[70][71]

September 25, 2016 - Pilgrimage Music Festival: Anna Graceman and the Graceman band performed at the 2nd annual Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin, TN. The line up included Beck, The Struts, Kacey Musgraves, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Kaleo, Shakey Graves, Cake, The Arcs, Anderson East to name a few.^[72] The Festival was produced by Executive Producers Kevin Griffin and Justin Timberlake.^[73] Anna made several NBC television appearances to promote the festival.^[74] The estimated attendance of the festival was 30,000 people over two days.^[75]

Another Girl records

Anna Graceman records for her own independent label, Another Girl Records. The label has a world-wide distribution deal through Ingrooves Fontana.^[76][77]

Graceman (Band)

Anna Graceman announced the creation of the band called Graceman,^[78] with her two siblings.^[79] The band's style of music incorporates elements of folk, soul and rock,^[80][81] its members are :

• Anna Graceman – piano, keyboards, bass, vocals
• Allie Graceman – guitar, vocals
• Landon Graceman – drums, percussion

The band 'Graceman' released their first full length album on October 4, 2016. It was released on CD, Vinyl ^[82] and digital download on Anna's record label 'Another Girl Records'. Produced and written by Anna Graceman.^[83]

Eponymous album, Graceman 'Rebel Days' album and other releases

September 25, 2012 – Anna Graceman: Graceman's eponymous album was released and consisted of ten songs: "Showtime" (her first single, released two months earlier), "Crazy World", "You're a Mystery", "Change Is Coming", "Superstar", "Can We Figure It Out?", "The Only One", "That's Who I Am", "Whispers", and "Lexi's Lullaby".^[84] The album was produced primarily by Will Hollis (music director for The Eagles and Shania Twain). The track "Superstar" was produced by Grammy-award-winning Darius Harrison aka Deezle.^[85][86]

October 4, 2016 – Rebel Days: 'Rebel Days' is the 'Graceman' band's first album release. The band members are Anna Graceman, Landon Graceman and Allie Graceman. Anna Graceman leads the young trio. Anna says that the 13 track LP “is the closest listening experience to hearing us live”.^[87] The album represents 13 songs that they have routinely played at shows around the country between 2014 - 2016. Anna states that all of the songs on the album were written by her with the exception of 'Storm' which was written by Allie Graceman. Anna Graceman Produced the album at 'Blackbird Studios' in Nashville, TN.^[88]

Notable musicians Anna Graceman has worked with

Bootleg/Unofficial Remixes

Anna Graceman's songs have been sampled, re-sampled, remixed and covered by artists, producers and fans.^[103][104] Many of these have been done reportedly without her permission.^[105] Two notable examples is Anna Graceman's song 'Treble Heart' and 'Words'.^{[106][107][108]} Both have been sampled and remixed thousands of times on soundcloud, musical.ly and youtube. The number of streams and views of these bootleg and unofficial versions count in the millions.^[109]

Internet Presence

Graceman has a substantial Internet presence. Graceman first started making her music available to the public by first uploading to YouTube on April 30, 2008. She appears 7 or 8 years old in her earliest videos.^[110] Her total number of unique views on her original music YouTube videos surpassed 150 million as of November 7, 2016.^[111] As of November 7, 2016, she has 145,846 subscribers and 41,819,836 views on her primary YouTube channel.^[112] Collectively, her YouTube views exceed 150 million views. Her America's Got Talent audition video alone has over 35 million views as of December 23, 2013.^[113]

Producer

Since the beginning of 2014, Graceman has produced all of her released music. These include "Speak to Me", "Living in Denial", "High Places", "Already Fallin", "IDK", "Miles Away", "Poison", "Never Meant to Me", "Leap of Faith", "Blink", "Heartbreaking Truth",^[114] "Remember", "Rain", as well as the full length 'Graceman' album "Rebel Days".^[115][116] Some of the selected musicians she has used in the production of her songs include Chuck Sabo,^[117] Brent Mason, Randy Hope-Taylor, John Hobbs, Jim Horn, Glenn Worf, Bobby Terry and Eddie Bayers^{[118][119][120]}

Musical influences

Graceman credits Carole King, Alicia Keys, Adele, Taylor Swift, Motown, and The Beatles as her main inspirations.^[121][122]

Studio albums

All currently released music by Anna Graceman

References

External links

• Official Website
• Official SoundCloud Channel