fbpx

Lucy Woodward

Born in London and raised in New York and The Netherlands, Lucy Woodward was raised by her opera singing/musicologist/bellydancing mom and conductor/composer dad, living on a steady musical diet of Chopin and Michael Jackson. After early acceptance to Manhattan School of Music at age 16, she left wanting to start her own band, write songs and sing jazz standards in NYC coffeeshops. She started doing session work which led her to LA where she started a bi-coastal artist life, making records and touring.

Lucy signed her first record deal with Atlantic, was on Top 40 radio and received two BMI Music Awards (2003). Later, she worked with producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie) on her Hooked! album (Verve 2010) and bassist Michael League (Snarky Puppy) with keyboardist Henry Hey (Rudder) co- produced her Til They Bang On The Door album (GroundUP 2016). She collaborated for many years with the Grammy-winning band Snarky Puppy going back to 2011 until more recently when her and Charlie Hunter opened for them at Royal Albert Hall (2019). SP and Lucy also recorded the highly-viewed “Too Hot To Last” which was featured on the band’s first Family Dinner album.

In 2024, Lucy will be releasing her 7th studio album Stories From The Dust. Recorded at Sonic Ranch on the border of Mexico and Texas, Dust was co-produced by Grammy-winning David Garza (Fiona Apple). It features longtime friend and bass extraordinaire Tim Lefevre and Larry Goldings who co-wrote a song with Lucy in 2015 but never recorded it til now. Most of the songs are about the women in her life, including ones she’s never met and the stories that have shaped them all. She will be touring throughout 2024 with her trio; Niek de Bruijn (drums), Jelle Roozenburg (guitar) and Udo Pannekeet (bass). The quartet has played together since 2016, touring all over Europe at jazz festivals and venues such as Istanbul Jazz Fest, Blue Note Milan and more recently at Ronnie Scott’s in London in September 2023. The trio captures the essence of Lucy’s bluesy and fiery to sweet vocal range with their unique arrangements of her songs, allowing her to float over their funk-driven pulse and melodic hooks embodying the sound of who they are together.

Lucy Woodward & The Rocketeers, Lucy’s first live album, will also be released in 2024. An 18- person jazz collective based in Rotterdam inspired by American composers such as Nina Simone and Donny Hathaway with dynamic arrangements written specifically to match Lucy’s passionate vocal manner, color and timbre, the songs range from high-energy explosions to hauntingly intimate meditations.

Other collaborations include Charlie Hunter, Pink Martini (singing in Croatian, Turkish, Spanish, French and Japanese on a few days’ notice), several larger ensembles in Europe such as WDR Big Band, Frankfurt Radio Big Band and Orchestra de la Suisse Romande. She has also sung vocals for Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Joe Cocker and Chaka Khan, and has appeared on several movie soundtracks including blockbusters The Blind Side, Last Vegas, What a Girl Wants and Ice Princess with her version of the Bjork classic “It’s Oh So Quiet”.

PRESS QUOTES

“Til They Bang On The Door, it’s brilliant. Well done, miss you in the band. Sir Rod xxx” SIR ROD STEWART (Twitter)

“What a voice…” RUSSELL CROWE (Twitter)

“…wholly fearless.” DAILY MAIL UK

“Lucy is a deep, soulful vocalist who is as versatile and virtuosic as she is passionate.”  MICHAEL LEAGUE (Snarky Puppy bandleader)

“Woodward owns them all with her soul-drenched voice, a slow burn that occasionally erupts into a Mavis Staples-style inferno.” ALL ABOUT JAZZ

 


    

Contact Info

Management/Label Inquiries | Jamie Margulies 
Discography | Lucy Woodward on allmusic.com