Gabriella Caspi/Dan Mackenzie - I Hope it Hurts
Gabriella was born with music in her heart. Her childhood memories are flooded with the sounds of James Taylor, Joanie Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt and Etta James. She was raised listening to a wide array of music from the strings of classical music to Alison Krauss to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Her desire to write was so compelling that she would doodle lines in journals before she could even spell. Her extensive travel with her parents brought her to Italy where Elton John’s music producer heard her singing on the street in Naples. He brought her to the first studio she ever recorded in at the age of 9 where she knocked his socks off with her rendition of James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.”
Her modern day inspirations are the artists; Damien Rice, Fiona Apple, Patti Griffin, Duffy, Jem, Jason Mraz, and Tracy Bonham. Gabriella’s music is akin to turning the pages of her diary. Her vulnerability, her joy, her pain, her honesty, is evident in every line of her songs. Watching Gabriella perform onstage is a rare and intimate experience. Her music is a modern pop-y fusion of the sounds she was raised hearing, with a little bit of soul thrown in.
She currently gigs around New York City at venues such as The Bitter End, Pianos, and Rockwood Music Hall. She has a strong and eclectic fan base that regularly packs these places. She recently worked in LA with Macy Gray and India Arie’s producer, Jared Lee Gosselin and co-writes regularly with Daniel Mackenzie who has also written for Joss Stone.
Two of her songs were featured in the film, “Childless” (the follow up to the Oscar winning film, “In The Bedroom”) which premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2007. She also performed the title song, “A Little Bit Of Hero” for the award winning animated short film about empowerment for children during 9\11, “The Day My Towers Fell.” Gabriella was recently invited to sing on Broadway at The Minskoff Theatre for an amazing charity called, “Broadway In South Africa.” Besides performing at The Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase in Nov. 2009, Gabriella went on to win The Abe Olman Songwriters Scholarship for 2010 from The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame for her song “I Hope It Hurts”. She earned a degree from college in Foreign Languages (She speaks 3 languages besides English) and Literature which has afforded her great opportunities to perform outside the US. She has performed in Mexico City, and plans to perform in Los Angeles this spring.
Gabriella Caspi is truly a star on the rise, but she never forgets her roots, her friends, or the importance of being a citizen of the world and giving back.
She continues to follow her passion, writing songs for her own projects, for films and performing regularly.
People often ask Gabriella what her dream is, and to this she replies that she is already living her dream each time she has the opportunity to step onto a stage and touch people with her stories.
DAN MACKENZIE is an Emmy-nominated songwriter and winner of the prestigious ASCAP Sammy Cahn Lyricist Award. Other winners include John Mayer, Josh Ritter and Lori McKenna. Mackenzie has co-written seven songs with Joss Stone including “Girlfriend On Demand,” featured on Joss’ Oct 2009 release Colour Me Free and “I Get High,” a bonus track on the album. The collaboration with Stone began in 2007 when Dan wrote and produced her Christmas single “All I Want For Christmas” (Virgin Records). Dan has also written and produced a James Bond theme song submission performed by Joss.
Dan received an Emmy nomination in 2004 in the best TV theme song category for the “Monster House” theme song. Dan wrote and produced all of the original music and songs for Discovery Channel’s popular MONSTER HOUSE.
Dan has written most of the original songs for the Hollywood musical Dear Dumb Diary, directed by Tony nominated Kristin Hanggi (currently in production). He has also written several songs for the upcoming Holly/Bollywood musical film Basmati Blues shooting in India in 2010. He has had numerous song placements in film and television over the years.
Dan continues to release diverse new recording projects of his own. His last album The Universe Is A Great Big Place (Produced by Dan Mackenzie, Chris Keup and Stewart Myers; mixed by Robbie “Achtung Baby” Adams) was released in 2008.
His new children’s album Dan Dan Doodlebug won the 2009 Just Plain Folks award for Best New Children’s Album. It was also featured on CD Baby’s Top 20 “Nerdy Music for Cool Kids” list along with They Might Be Giants, Dan Zanes, and Meredith Brooks. One of the tracks was included on the 2009 StinkFest CD Compilation.
