The Story
Maya Solovéy was born in Philadelphia, then raised in western Massachusetts after her parents vamoosed with the family to follow an Ashram. “Perhaps it’s odd, but my earliest memories of life are of people dressed in white, dancing around singing Hindu chants, and offering marigolds to an Indian Guru. Kind of funny for a white Jewish girl growing up in the woods of New England.”
In her teens she spent time living abroad in Ecuador and Spain, and developed a love of the Spanish language and the people who spoke it. Kicked out of Spain, (that’s another story) she decided that was a perfect time to record her first album, at 17 years old. Playing, working, and traveling through Asia and New Zealand for a couple years, she came back to record her second record at age 19, a piano pop EP with an Indian flair. As soon as
it was done, she moved to New York City, where she has resided ever since.
Not knowing a single person upon moving there, she worked as a nude model, a belly dancer, and spent many nights discovering the diversity of
the NYC music scene, and the people that were creating it.
“I spent a good portion of my first year here at the old Bulgarian Bar, on Broadway and Canal Street. It was a wild combination of Eastern European punks, South American rastas, Pakistanis with crisp bright button down shirts who would bend their heads back and dance with chairs in their mouths, and me. Though it was a wild and fun time, it did not of course yield any lasting friendships. My first friend in New York came when a guy I knew in LA told me that his friend Bob wasn’t calling him back. He asked me to go knock on his door and tell him to call him.”
This man whose door she knocked on was the famed jazz musician
and arranger Bob Belden, and they became friends.
“Bob is the first person that introduced me to Bossa Nova and Brazilian music, which has had a huge impact on my life. I began listening to it every day for weeks. At some point, I began hearing songs in my head that I believed needed to be in Portuguese. Of course I didn’t speak Portuguese at the time, which was a small issue, so there was nothing for it except to go to Brazil. I knew Richard Bona (the bass player and singer) and some guys in his band who were down there on tour, so I hopped along their tour bus for a while, till I went up to Salvador, Bahia. There, I squatted in an abandoned hostel with a leaky roof, played the surdo drum and danced in parades, and drank beer in crowded bars where everyone watched the world cup of 2006. Almost everything I had was stolen, but I learned Portuguese, and bought the 7 string classical guitar that I play and write on till this day.”
In 2007 she met multi Grammy winning producer Bassy Bob Brockmann. He fell in love instantly with her voice and her music, and they began working on her self-titled trilingual album, “Maya Solovéy”. Its release garnered much acclaim, especially in Europe, where she toured frequently. The album also made it onto the radar of Jason Sigal of WFMU NYC, who named it one of the top 10 albums of 2011, and put it on the Free Music Archive under the creative commons license, where she has since had almost 100,000 downloads.
Brockmann and Solovéy went on to produce more music together, and in 2012 she released her EP, Forte. Soon after they teamed up with a few members of MGMT, James Richardson and Hank Sullivant, and Maya’s longtime drummer Robert “Chicken” Burke, of Parliament Funkadelic, and together the band produced her forthcoming album, “Blue Heart”. While this was still in post production, having a moment of holiday inspiration, Maya recorded her solo Christmas album, “Midwinter: On Christmas Eve”, released in November 2014.
Constantly working on new projects and collaborations, Maya plays concerts locally and internationally, in addition to writing and recording continuously. She lives in Brooklyn in a plant filled apartment with two cats and her husband, musician Vitor Gonçalves.
The Facts
Maya’s albums and songs have amounted to
over 100,000 downloads on the Free Music Archive.
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/MayaSolovey
Personal Discography
Blue Heart, LP
Out now on Womb Room Music, November 2016
Belinha Bossa Nova Duo,
Available on Smoothnotes Records, June 2015
Midwinter: On Christmas Eve, LP, 2014
Like a Prayer, (Madonna cover) single, 2013
Forte, EP, 2012
Maya Solovey, I:II, LP, 2011
Dissolving, EP, 2006
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TV Licensing
"Rizzoli and Isles" (TNT) S07E11. Song: "Bigger Man"
August 2016,
"Royal Pains" (USA) S08E02. Song: "Still"
May 2016,
“Heartland” (CBC) S9E17. Song: “Come Home Soon”
March 2016,
“Heartland” (CBC) S9E8. Song: “Still”. November 2015
“Heartland” (CBC) S8E7. Song: “Body Language”
November 2014,
“Sturm der Liebe” (2013) Commissioned to cover
Madonna's “Like a Prayer”
(German TV award for best Daily Series) Wikipedia page
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Commercial Licensing
Mister Zimi Fasion Co. (Australia) Spring 2016 Campaign.
Song: "A Escultura" Vimeo
Mister Zimi Fashion Co. (Australia) Spring 2015 Campaign.
Song: A Vida. Vimeo
HP Datapass Tablet, Composed, produced, and performed song
“Iva’s Playground”. To be released Summer 2015
Ruby Fashion Co. Composed, produced and performed
spring fashion campaign (2014). Vimeo
Ralph Lauren Fall Fashion Campaign 2010
Song: “Eu Vi” Website
Procter and Gamble Corp. Taiwan and Hong Kong,
Song “Ring Ring Ring” for annual branding campaign. Website
The Global Fund, Song: “A Vida” for a campaign to fight
Tuberculosis in Brazil, 2012 Youtube
FIFA, in partnership with Rise Sports,
Song: “Como Yo Lloro Por Ti” as part of an official compilation,
“Triumph Through Football” for the 2010 World Cup
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Film Licensing
“Night Has Settled” (Shore Line Entertainment, 2014)
Songs: “La Escultura” and “Madreselva”.
Winner- Festival Prize and Grandy Jury award,
Best Showcase Feature Film, Soho Intl Film Fest.
Official Selection- Santa Barbara Intl Film Fest. Website
Song “Canta” used in trailer. Vimeo
“Sunday” (2014) Composed, produced, and performed ending
credits song, “Salt Bath”. Winner, Woodstock Film Festival 2014,
for “Best Short Narrative” IMDB page
“PAPA” documentary, due out late 2015.
Song: “Como Yo Lloro Por Ti” Facebook page
“Peach Plum Pear” (2013) Song: “Dreamgirls”
(Winner- Best Picture, Hollywood Reel Independent) Website
“GESSO, the Art of Street Painting” (2014)
Song: “Madreselva” Website
“Young Europe” (2012) Song: “Touch”
(Winner- Best Director, Milan International Film Festival) IMDB
“Extinction Soup” (2014) Song: “American Song” IMDB
“Rapport” (2013) Song: “A Vida” IMDB
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Miscellaneous Licensing
Internationally acclaimed artists “Os Gêmeos” (The Twins)
use song “A Vida” as part of a press piece about their new show
in the Vancouver Biennial. Youtube Wikipedia page
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Composing/Songwriting
Cowrote current album “Sentiments”, including the single, “Manners”. Youtube current views: 483,000) for artist Julia Marcell,
Fall 2014. Website Facebook
Produced album and wrote the song “Suzanna”
for artist Page Foster. Bandcamp
Currently writing for a curated collection of music
for use in TV, commercials, and film, for The Haus.
Currently writing for licensing catalogue for Noble Music
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Singing/Preforming
Fisher Price "A Film by You" April 2016 Youtube (almost 3M views)
Cabi Online Fall Fashion Collection promo video,”Chiado” 2014
Cannon Commercial 2014
Target commercial for Pixi Makeup line, 2012
Walmart Christmas Commercial, 2011
Sin of a Father (Granite Films) Singing the ending credits song.
Premiering at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, February 2015. Vimeo
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Theater
"Clover" written by Erik Ehn.
Premiering December 1st - 18th 2016,
at La Mama Theater, New York, NY.
Composed 6 songs.
"10,000 Things" written by Erik Ehn.
Produced by the Wilbury Group. T show premiered
in Providence, Rhode Island, October 20 - 30th, 2016.
Composed 7 songs.
"Everyman Jack" written by Erik Ehn, performed at the legendary
La Mama Theater, as part of the theater festival Soulographie.
Composed all music and performed live with the show.
November 2012
"Forgiveness" written by Erik Ehn, performed at the La Mama Theater,
as part of the theater festival Soulographie.
Composed all music and performed live with the show.
November 2012
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Dance
Lane and Co. NY-- Composed music and performed live
for events and venues such as the NYC Fringe Festival,
Jacob’s Pillow, and the Joyce Theater. 2010
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Songwriting Award
Great American Songwriting Contest
1st place, pop category. Song: “Linger”
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Notable Venues Played
The Blue Note, New York, NY
Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
Gugenheim Museum, Bilbao Spain (via video)
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany (playing with Talvin Singh)
Le Baron, Paris FR
Le Usine, Geneva, Switzerland
Mercury Lounge, New York NY
The Living Room, New York NY
Colony Theater, Woodstock NY
Club Ferroviario, Lisbon, Portugal
Private parties for Pattie Boyd and Hapsburg Royalty, Prague, CZ