biography :: Teri Untalan

TERI UNTALAN: Singer . Songwriter . Violist ......................................................................................................

Teri has spent the last 3 years performing her material up and down the West Coast from LA to Olympia, WA in preparation and support of her 2004 self titled CD. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston (where she studied with jazz violinist Matt Glazer), she moved to the Bay Area to study with Katrina Wreede (formerly of Turtle Island String Quartet). She went on to record or perform with numerous artists, most notably: guitar star Buckethead (formerly of Guns and Roses), SF electronica group Westside Chemical, former Prince guitarist Miko, & Bay Area, LA artists: David Hopkins, Brad Brooks, Austin Willacy, Butch Berry, Rich McCulley & Duff Ferguson among a few. With various groups or incarnation of her music she has played almost every club in San Francisco including the old Paradise Lounge, The Hotel Utah, Cafe Du Nord, The Plush Room (with the 1995 Mr. Nobodys Caberet of Life), The Bazaar Cafe, Tongue & Groove, The Revolution Cafe, Amnesia, Bottom of the Hill. She has also been a active with a number of Asian American arts communities, performing for APAture (a multidisciplinary exhibit for Young Asian Pacific American artists), SF international Asian American Film Festival, Locus Arts.org, and most recently she was selected to be a showcase performer for the 2005 Asian American Music Conference Artist Showcase. In March 2005, she was also featured on KRON Ch. 4 (San Francisco/Hawaii), Pacific Fusion TV magazine and interviewed for Asian Week newspaper.

Teri has recently relocated to her native Portland, OR and hit the ground running performing and getting involved with local community efforts in education and the arts.

Her self titled 2004 CD is a mostly solo acoustic journey. Dark & personal, charming & engaging drawing comparisions to songwriters like Jeff Buckley, Norah Jones & Ani Difranco. However, as she soulfully soars and evokes, her hugely dynamic vocals echo influences from the jazz, rock & avant guarde divas such as Nina Simone, Bjork, Ann Wilson & Diamanda Galas. This is no a plaintive folk singer. She rocks, croons, coos, scats and gives you a shoulder when the tears well up. Also featured are Stephen Smith on bass on 5 tracks and singer/songwriter Rich McCulley on dobro for The Wedding of Heidi & Jason. Recorded and mixed by producer Jamie Lemoine of Westside Chemical, the CD includes a special bonus remix of Eternally, Perpetually.

On the side, Teri has pursued doing voice over and jazz gigs. She has stretched her talents doing voiceover for the noisy toothfairy on Sony Pictures 2003 release "Darkness Falls" and continues to book and front the jazz noir group The Lush Life Players. She also produced the group's 2001 CD, "Siren Song", available on CD Baby.com.
She looks forward to continue performing in support of her self titled debut while starting pre-production for a new CD.

OTHER PROJECTS & FLUFF:
The Lush Life Players
Check out Teri's side band, the jazz noir group The Lush Life Players

+ Buy the album at CD Baby
» Contact teri at teriuntalan dot com