Alyssa Graham

Alyssa Graham (born Alyssa Hope Altschul) is a singer-songwriter based largely in New York City. She plays guitar and piano. In 2005, she launched her solo music career with the release of the critically acclaimed album, What Love Is, which was heralded by All About Jazz as one of the “Best New Recordings of 2005.” Her subsequent studio album, Echo, released in 2008 was critically acclaimed and commercially successful debuting at #24 on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts. The New York Times named Echo a “Critics’ Choice CD” and iTunes named it one of the “Top 10 Vocal Albums of the Year.

Alyssa Graham (born Alyssa Hope Altschul) is a singer-songwriter based largely in New York City. She plays guitar and piano. In 2005, she launched her solo music career with the release of the critically acclaimed album, What Love Is, which was heralded by All About Jazz as one of the “Best New Recordings of 2005.” Her subsequent studio album, Echo, released in 2008 was critically acclaimed and commercially successful debuting at #24 on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts. The New York Times named Echo a “Critics’ Choice CD” and iTunes named it one of the “Top 10 Vocal Albums of the Year.” Echo was featured in ELLE Magazine and NPR called it “poignant… openhearted.” Alyssa Graham was recognized by Amazon as one of their “New and Notable Artists” and made musical history as the first singer to record the track “Involved Again,” originally written by Jack Reardon (The Good Life) for Billie Holiday in the 1950’s. Born and raised in a small town outside of New York City, Graham is the daughter of Jewish-American parents Susan and Fredric Altschul who were greatly influenced by the NYC art scene and the 1960’s music revolution.

She is the sister of American fiction writer and political commentator, Andrew Foster Altschul. Graham’s grandfather was an Emmy nominated actor and radio personality during “The Golden Age of Radio” most famous for his work on “Gangbusters,” “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” and “Mystery Theater.” In the 1990’s, Graham got her start in music when she and longtime boyfriend and songwriter, Doug Graham, co-founded an Ithaca based psychedelic rock band called Blindman’s Holiday. She and her bandmates were featured in Entertainment Magazine, as one of the best college bands in the country, Relix Magazine and Seventeen Magazine. After 5 years with Blindman’s Holiday, Graham, seeking more of a challenge musically, headed to Boston, MA to study Jazz and contemporary improvisation at the renowned New England Conservatory.

She and long time musical partner, Doug Graham, got married and started performing a mixture of jazz and pop music as a duo in local Boston and New York City clubs like Club Passim and The Bitter End. In 2003, The Graham’s (as they are often referred to) moved back to New York City and immersed themselves in the underground jazz and singer-songwriter scene playing with local musicians at local venues such as Rockwood Music Hall, Joe’s Pub and The Cutting Room. Alyssa Graham has released 2 solo albums. The music features a melding of folk, jazz and pop influences and a raw simplicity throughout. On July 25, 2011 Sunnyside Records announced its intention to release the latest outing from Alyssa Graham, The Lock, Stock & Soul EP produced by Grammy winner Craig Street. The 4 song EP was released August 23, on iTunes, with a full-length album forthcoming.

The Lock, Stock & Soul EP was an instant success when iTunes named it one of their "New & Noteworthy" singer-songwriter releases, Paste Magazine praised the EP and highlighted it as one of their "Featured Audio's of the Day," and AOL Spinner chose one of the tracks as their "Featured MP3 of the Day." A full length album is slated for release in January, 2012. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..