Her name is: Hilary McRae

Her bag is: Girl-at-the-piano R&B

She sounds like: Steely Dan, Chicago

Download these songs: Every Day (When Will You Be Mine), Consider Me Gone, Why Can’t Now Be Our Time?

When you listen to Hilary McRae, you don’t imagine her rich, dusky voice belongs to a 21-year-old, but that’s the age you’ll find if you check this writer/singer/pianist‘s ID. She’s a marketer’s dream – talent, youth and looks.

Like an R&B singer from the golden era, McRae's voice has an intensity that rivals only her piano skills and the horns that accompany her playing. This is definitely light years away from the bubble gum pop music has fast become the status quo for young female performers. She’s so good that she makes the rare grade as one of those artists that makes you wonder what the future possibly has in store for her. 

As the first developing artist on Hear Music, McRae holds a very special spot on the label launched by Starbucks and Concord Music Group. That means her label-mates include the likes of Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell. That’ll stroke your ego pretty good, thank you.
 
McRae began crafting much of the material on her debut album, Through These Walls, while attending Berklee School of Music on a songwriting scholarship. Not content to simply write songs for others to sing, she decided to make a record.
 
“As an artist, I pour my heart out in every note I compose and sing. It is amazing to have the support of a label that works with that same passion,” she said.

The horns on her album were the idea of producer/guitarist Zach Ziskin, her longtime collaborator. They first worked together when she was 16, and she calls him a huge influence. It was Ziskin who had the crucial idea of enlisting the legendary Charlie Calello, who has arranged music for legends such as Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen, to create the horn parts.

“I’ve loved horns since I was a kid listening to Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire,” she said, “but I never thought of my own music in that way until we started making the record. Charlie came up with stellar horn parts; I was blown away by his ideas and let him do his thing. I was amazed at how much they added to the feel of the songs and the overall recording.”

McRae’s songs are heavy on romantic anguish — laden with missed opportunities, what ifs and lingering heartache.

“I definitely got my heart stomped on, more than once,” she said. “That’s probably why these songs are so raw.”

Perhaps McRae should call up her ex-boyfriends and thank them for giving her material?

Considering her young age, it’s no surprise she began writing these songs during the two years she spent at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music, which had awarded her a scholarship to study songwriting. By the time she returned home to Boca Raton, Fla., where she lives with her father, Hilary possessed the material and the self-belief to take the next step.

“I got to a point of deciding whether I was going to focus on songwriting or performing,” she recalls, “so I went to my dad and said, ‘Listen, I really want to try to do something with these songs, and I want to do it as an artist.’ He was very generous in his response, and what started out as a Christmas present got a little out of hand. Because of his support, it turned into something really great — something beyond my wildest dreams.”

She then called on Ziskin, who eagerly took on the project.

When he played the finished album for his cousin, industry veteran Bruce Berman, it got the ball rolling quickly. Blown away by what he’d heard, Berman in turn played the record for his friend and fellow vet Larry Frazin, who was hooked as well.

After agreeing that this was the most impressive new artist they’d heard in ages, the two came up with the concept of launching a new label venture, with McRae as their partner and her album as the first release. She happily agreed, leading to the formation of Stone Road Records.

While Stone Road was setting up the album release, Frazin was visited in his office by longtime friend Alan Mintz, the head of music for Starbucks Entertainment. Mintz was there on other business, but after hearing McRae’s album, an excited Mintz told Frazin it was just what he’d been looking for, and a deal was made on the spot to release the record through Hear Music — a label launched by Starbucks and Concord Music Group whose roster includes Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.

“I really hope to have a long career,” McRae says. “And I hope to keep getting my heart broken so that I’ll have something to write about.”

Considering her physical attractiveness and obvious, abundant musical talent, there should be no shortage of men lining up to help her out in that department. Serve up a dish of drama, boys.

Fast Fact!

During the summer of 2006, she toured Central and South America as the keyboardist and backing vocalist for Latin superstar Christian Castro.


On The Web:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnqcNa-dslc

hilarymcrae.com

myspace.com/hilarymcrae