Laura Fernandez

I was born in Madrid, Spain and immigrated to Canada as a child, not speaking English whatsoever.

As a child, my earliest memories were those relating to music and art. My father who was a fine art painter and an architect would sit me on his lap and play name that tune with many classical pieces of music! Watching him paint and listening to classical music and opera as well as many other types of music was what my childhood was rich with.

Soon enough I was also drawing, painting and playing music. I was especially into poetry, lyrics and songwriting having been exposed to this in early education by a teacher who was particularly fond of folk music. Simon and Garfunkel, Cohen, Dylan - we studied these amazing writers in our English classes. I adored writing poetry and this inevitably led to songwriting and learning my chosen instrument, the piano. I had a love affair with anything that included piano. I was influenced by the classical masters as well as early Elton John, Billy Joel, The Beatles - all kinds of music. Motown was also a big influence as well as classic and traditional Spanish music that my Mom would sing around the house. I had a rich tapestry of influences to drawn on and learn from.

My love affair with drawing and painting was also very strong, eventually leading me to study art at The Alberta College of Art in Calgary. I became a very successful award winning illustrator working on many important campaigns over the years and illustrating with Rick Jacobson, 17 children's books and many book covers, three of these books ( the most recent) authored by us as well as illustrated.

It wasn't until 6 years ago that the music career I had put aside rose to the surface with a vengeance and I began to once again write and perform all over Toronto. I recorded my first CD, The Other Side, in 2003. This led to an invitation to the New York International Independent Music Festival where my band was awarded Best Soft Rock Band (there were over 600 bands in the event). More performances in New York and in various festivals followed. Two more albums: Un Solo Beso - a Spanish language album featuring the best Latin Jazz Musicians, including Hilario Duran, Luis Mario Ochoa, Noah Zacharin and more, and Okay; Alright, also featuring guest George Koller and Alexander Brown! I am deeply entrenched in my musical adventure, a lifelong dream! I am thrilled to have the opportunity to follow my deepest desires in this life. I'm continuing to perform internationally and am preparing to record my fourth CD.