Mirinda James Bio --

While most of the established cover bands were slugging it out for $2-300 per night around her hometown of South Bethlehem, New York; MIRINDA JAMES was performing for $2-3000 per show by age 16. While other singers spent their time in top 40 copycat mode, MIRINDA JAMES added her originals to her performances and fans followed. By age 19, JAMES released her third album, "Whatever Happened", recorded in Nashville. Her self-penned single "Give Me A Man", independently released to country radio garnered airplay on over 400 stations, and picked up by Jones’ Satellite.
There’s more of course, a lot more to tell about this amazing artist whose incredible voice and emotional performances capture the hearts of music fans from preteen trends to 40-something rockers.
Here are a few facts about MIRINDA JAMES.

HOMETOWN: South Bethlehem, New York - Blue Collar Roots.
INFLUENCES: Country, rock, blues. Started performing at 5, and later w/ father’s country/blues band.
PERFORMING: Singer/Dancer/Actress.
SONGWRITING: Publishing songwriter, BMI. Writes with piano or guitar.
RECORDINGS: Has recorded and lived in New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Released 3 albums/CD’s. "Baby I Need You", "Whatever Happened", "Place In My Heart", and PolyGram compilation "Lost Voices". Current Nashville recording project 2005 - 06 with producer Clyde Brooks.
PERFORMANCES: Has appeared/toured in the following: New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, California, Tennessee, Canada.
THEATRE & COMMERCIALS: Available upon request.

QUOTES:

“This emotional contralto growls and sings you off your seat”
-Music Row, Nashville, TN.

“Blue-eyed knockout with talent to match”
-Metroland, Albany, NY.

“Mirinda produced more excitement at Cardigan than winning 5 games simultaneously against Eaglebrook”
-Cardigan Mt. School, Canaan, NH

“As a performer, she has it all”
-Rutland Daily Herald, Rutland, VT.

“Mirinda actually captured the essence of what Janis is all about, I“m thrilled and see the record as a stand-out track on the collection”
-Mark Fine, Sen. VP, PolyGram Records

“James nails this one and makes a rock masterpiece”
-Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH.

Born in a small town in upstate New York of only 400 people, Mirinda James grew up with blue collar roots and white collar savvy. Her father owned a roofing company by day, and had a country and blues band by night. Inherently realizing early on that the limelight was where she wanted to be, she entertained family, friends, or anyone who would watch her sing, dance, or put on a puppet show. By age 5, she convinced her Dad to let her sing with his band......getting 50 cents a song....she knew at that moment that the stage is where she belonged.

Her passion for entertainment grew rapidly over the coming years. She played 5 instruments, trained in dance, performed regularly with her father’s band, was involved in theatre, and made a couple trips a week to NYC for auditions. Her efforts proved successful - recording her first album in Nashville at 9, commercials, even getting to the final ten for the motion picture "Annie". But realizing that to be great meant direction and time, she ultimately knew something would have to give to be great at one. So instead of five nights a week of lessons, she gave up three instruments, backed off on dance and acting, and focused on what she really wanted most - music.

One summer day, she happen to stumble across some old albums of her father’s that would ultimately change her life. When the first song off Janis Joplin’s "I Got Them Ole Kozmic blues Again Mama" album played, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. When her mother came home, she then found out that her Mom had hidden those records on her father when they got married, so Mirinda snuck every chance to listen over and over to the few blues and rock albums she had.

By age 15, she had made her second album, and was now headlining her own band touring from Nashville to Richmond, New Hampshire to Canada, Phoenix to Orlando. At this point she was about to face a big stumbling block, school. Even though she carried an A average from grade school, the law required her to have a tutor for every day she missed. In her words, "If I would have been a jock, they would have given me a day off anytime to visit a promising college of scholarship. Looking back, I suppose music wasn’t a serious choice to a guidance counselor. I never wanted to be treated any better, but I certainly did not expect worse." Her indomitable attitude, led her to finish high school a half year early and headed to Mexico for two months. Later, she would go on to finish each semester of college with a 4.0 average.

After her return, she moved to Nashville at age 17, and at 19, released her third album, "Whatever Happened" independently. Her self-penned single "Give Me A Man" picked up 400 stations across the country, as well as the Jones’ satellite network. And even though she had overwhelming support from radio and fans she realized that she pushed the envelope too far, and a deal with Nashville was not in the cards. Now in a new market, James released an EP....a test market so to speak...of "Baby I Need You" to 50 top 40 radio stations in the northeast. Quickly "Baby I Need You" was added, which also led to a spot on PolyGram record’s compilation CD "Lost Voices", a tribute to Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Sharing this album with Billy Idol, Faith Hill, Pretenders and Etta James..it was becoming clearer why she was bound to find those albums of her Dad’s.

After a year of living in Los Angeles and working on a writing/recording project with producer/songwriter Robert Tepper, Mirinda James returned to her roots in rural upstate New York. James never liked being labeled in a particular genre of music, but her heart always brought her back to country. Mirinda moved to Nashville in 2005 to work with her new producer Clyde Brooks and to seek a label deal.