About Me
Born into a creative family with music at the center, I began composing songs at an early age.
I am forever grateful to my uncle, Bob Mercer, a record company executive who "hired" me when I was 9 or 10, to do a takedown of the top ten pop songs on the Billboard Charts, announced on the radio each week, which gave me the best education there is in the art of songwriting. Also, to my father for taking me with him to some of his recording sessions and getting me work as a singer on some important records, commercials and film soundtracks, when I was a child, which introduced me to the world of recording.
After putting music aside for many years, in order to focus on surviving a turbulent childhood, in my mid-twenties, I gave birth to my daughter and she awakened me from a deep sleep. How could I set an example for her of living a true, authentic life if I wasn't doing that myself?
I began to write songs, again, and in my early thirties, an entire album of songs came pouring out of me in just a few days, as if they had been there, all the time, just waiting for me to find them and set them free. It was a metaphor for my life up until then. To this day, I believe that some of those early songs are my best.
Since then, I have written hundreds of songs, mostly about people I love, heroes of mine, urging people to take better care of the natural world, human rights, and tragic events that have moved me. I've also written a book, several screenplays, lots of poems, developed a number of television shows (www.MonkIIProductions.com) and am currently working on a musical.
I believe that each of us has a purpose and a story to be told and it is up to us to honor the gifts we are given, whatever they are, by sharing them with the rest of the world.
I am forever grateful to my uncle, Bob Mercer, a record company executive who "hired" me when I was 9 or 10, to do a takedown of the top ten pop songs on the Billboard Charts, announced on the radio each week, which gave me the best education there is in the art of songwriting. Also, to my father for taking me with him to some of his recording sessions and getting me work as a singer on some important records, commercials and film soundtracks, when I was a child, which introduced me to the world of recording.
After putting music aside for many years, in order to focus on surviving a turbulent childhood, in my mid-twenties, I gave birth to my daughter and she awakened me from a deep sleep. How could I set an example for her of living a true, authentic life if I wasn't doing that myself?
I began to write songs, again, and in my early thirties, an entire album of songs came pouring out of me in just a few days, as if they had been there, all the time, just waiting for me to find them and set them free. It was a metaphor for my life up until then. To this day, I believe that some of those early songs are my best.
Since then, I have written hundreds of songs, mostly about people I love, heroes of mine, urging people to take better care of the natural world, human rights, and tragic events that have moved me. I've also written a book, several screenplays, lots of poems, developed a number of television shows (www.MonkIIProductions.com) and am currently working on a musical.
I believe that each of us has a purpose and a story to be told and it is up to us to honor the gifts we are given, whatever they are, by sharing them with the rest of the world.