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KARA JOHNSTAD

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Biography
"Kara is one huge chunk of pure emotion!" (BILD Germany´s biggest newspaper)

American singer-songwriter Kara Johnstad has lived in Berlin, Germany since the 1980's. Ms. Johnstad has an outstanding reputation as a world class performer, recording artist and producer. Her performances on five continents have left fans breathless and the media eager to offer their praise. During the 1980's while still in her early twenties, Kara Johnstad was signed to the record label RCA. In total, including her record with RCA Kara Johnstad has written, recorded and produced a total of five albums and she has three current albums at various stages of production, the Jazz album, Le Grand Love, a tribute to the music of French composer Michel Legrand, who is fan of Kara's vocals, the classically orchestrated, Moon In Capricorn which is being recorded in Rome and represents Kara’s unique song writing skills, from New Age to Pop to Jazz and the soon to be recorded unplugged Naked Thoughts album, which will be comprised of a mixture of Pop and Adult Contemporary songs. With the exception of the Legrand project, all of Kara Johnstad's music is comprised of original material and she owns 100% of the publishing and performance rights to her music.

Kara Johnstad’s music is played on FM and professional internet radio stations worldwide and has charted exceptionally well in Europe, so much so, that recently she decided to re-release Paths X (pronounced Cross) and Pages of Sand to the North American market where the albums have been well received.

Ms. Johnstad’s band consists of world class musicians; percussionist Rhani Krija ( Sting, Herbie Hancock), cellist Stephan Braun (Melody Gardot) and renowned German pianist and musical director Rolf Zielke.

Kara Johnstad has take just as much care in handpicking a professional management and creative team consisting of Manager Craig Urquhart (New York City), the former personal assistant to Leonard Bernstein and Vice President of the Leonard Bernstein Organization and currently acting as the Senior Consultant, Public Relations and Promotion to the Leonard Bernstein Office (the foundation and estate), Fabrizio Pigliucci (Rome) one of the foremost Italian film composers, arrangers and orchestrators, Joe Montague (Toronto) a critically acclaimed entertainment journalist and publisher, as her Director of Media Relations and Production Manager Stephen Logan Day (New York City). The balance of Ms. Johnstad’s team includes German fashion designer Rosita Dylka (Berlin), Creative Consultant Michael R. Justice (Las Vegas), Matt Martinez Videographer and film director ( L.A. / Berlin), Joel Itman film director and producer (Milan) and as already noted, Musical Director and Arranger Rolf Zielke (Berlin). Kara Johnstad has carefully selected individuals to surround herself with, who reflect her diversity in music and her strong ties to both North America and Europe and support the strong vision she holds as an artist.

Kara Johnstad is a third generation entertainment professional. Her mother was a child prodigy concert pianist and her great-uncle Charlie Winninger was a well known stage and film actor who was cast in the role as Cap'n Andy in the first Broadway production of Show Boat. Among his numerous film appearances he played Judy Garland's father in the film Little Nellie Kelly and he appeared in the movie Give My Regards to Broadway. Ms. Johnstad's brother Kurt is a well known screenwriter in Hollywood.

Seldom has an artist appeared on the music scene who has the ability to so easily transcend culture and music genres as Kara Johnstad, while maintaining her excellence. Completely bilingual in German and English and having performed to critical acclaim and traveled throughout Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and South America, Kara Johnstad offers a true Alternative for the astute music fan who desires truly creative music that evokes strong emotions, while showcasing intelligent songwriting.

Here is what the press has to say:

»Kara Johnstad has left the stylistic boundaries behind her in every genre, and instead carried through what suits her the best: Her ideas!« zitty, Berlin

»Kara Johnstad places each tone with such feeling... Blue note at its best!« Stern, Hamburg

»The voice of Kara Johnstad is really outstanding. It doesn´t matter whether she soars into the beyond or whispers like an angel. One understands fully that she must have trained a long time and with success.« Jazzdimensions

»Holy Moly! ! What a voice...« BILD Germany´s largest and most read paper

»... Kara Johnstad is all that a jazz lover´s heart desires. Beautiful voice, beautiful woman, beautiful music..« TIP, Berlin

Instrumentation
Kara Johnstad travels together with her Musical Director.

The formation is flexible.

She performs in:
1) Duo - Voc and Bass
2) Trio - Voc and Piano / Keys and Bass
3) Band - Voc and Piano/keys and Bass and Drums
4) and is also available as a soloist for Big Band and Orchestra work

Discography
CD Paths X - Kara Johnstad
CD Pages of Sand - Kara Johnstad
CD Crystal Flakes - Beto and Kara
CD Rise in Love - Beto and Kara

Kara has collaborated and released many more CDs, for example as a special featured artist. Such as the album Take My Heart for New Age artist Gambheera or the track "Colors of the Summer Sky," for Tiger Forest's CD Sounds of Life CD.

She is also a much sought after lyricist and is finishing an album for the ROCK/ POP band Fortunate Fools. Currently 2 tracks are playing on Germany's number one daily television series Gute

hte Zeiten as a pre release promotion. The

Singer/Songwriter *			Hollywood Undercover *
Nr.	Title		Nr.	Title
01	Carouselled	listen	01	Lady is a Tramp	listen
02	Melody Sufi Samba	listen	02	Where do I begin	listen
03	Hurting Place	listen	03	Come Rain or come Shine	listen
04	Different Planes	listen	04	How do you Keep the Music Playing	listen
05	Winter has Come	listen	05	Almost like Being in Love	listen
*All songs mp3-files			*All songs mp3-files