Sam Austin
Sold a song to Disney at 12, masterminded a family band in my teens, wrote theater/cabaret in NYC in my youth, quit songwriting for a spell, now I’m back!
21
top 1
54
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74
songs
35.3K
plays
NAKED CITY radio edit NAKED CITY radio edit
the opening number of the pop opera LIGHT OF DAY, setting the stage for an evening of confessions and revelations
LOVE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME feat. David Ertel radi LOVE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME feat. David Ertel radi
ON THE ROAD AT CHRISTMAS feat. Sammy Shelor radio ON THE ROAD AT CHRISTMAS feat. Sammy Shelor radio
Dedicated to everyone who has to work on Christmas
CHRISTMAS EVE tracks CHRISTMAS EVE tracks
LIGHT OF DAY radio edit LIGHT OF DAY radio edit
An object of desire haunts my thoughts
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Albums
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LIGHT OF DAY the album
I love writing songs that capture strong feelings I’ve had about a time, person or place, and that wrap you in those feelings with a sumptuous arrangement and much to surprise the ear. I’m drawn to seductive rhythms and sophisticated chords, and themes of longing, carnality and joy. I want my listeners to be astonished!Band/artist history
My parents met in summer stock, and all six of us kids were in stage productions from an early age. My debut at six was as one of the shipboard kids in the Bonfils Theater production of Sail Away. I did at least one play or musical every season, and started writing my own songs when I was ten, which led to a music camp tuner of the play Harvey that got me in the Denver papers at age eleven. At twelve I was cast as the lead in Mountain Born, a World of Disney episode for which I also wrote the theme song, and the family group I formed with my siblings won a coveted invitation to play the New Year's Eve lineup at the famed Troubadour in Los Angeles.
At Yale I performed with and pitched The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, one of Yale's oldest a cappella singing groups, and revived the tradition of the original commencement musical with Makin' Light, a show that enjoyed two subsequent productions.
My third week in Manhattan I played the opening night party for Endless Love, which the People Magazine photographer attending proclaimed "the celebrity party of the year." In my New York years I played cocktail piano uptown and Broadway singalong downtown--often in the same evening--until I tired of late nights and transitioned to events and private parties. I also collaborated on several musicals and revues, including the Bistro-award winning Moments in the Air, the MAC-nominated Push My Buttons, and Oscar of the Waldorf, a show commissioned to mark the opening of Oscar's restaurant at the Waldorf-Astoria. I also opened for Hootie and the Blowfish at a gala for Boomer Esiason's Heroes Foundation, which led to playing that year's Phil Donahue/Marlo Thomas Christmas party.
Since moving to Roanoke I have shifted the focus to my songwriting, and was so impressed with my producer Paul Baggott's work on Now It's Christmas that I've continued to send him songs, including Break My Heart, which won Special Mention at the 2022 SanremoSenior competition in San Remo, Italy, and Bigger that Both of Us, which I performed in English and Italian in San Remo the following year. Since then I've been focusing on my first album, which features songs from my pop opera Light of Day, about the secret lives of city dwellers.Have you performed in front of an audience?Many times! But I will never forget performing my song Harvey for a big audience of "the older kids" at the senior music camp across the lake from our junior camp, because I got up from the piano to rejoin "the younger kids," only to feel the camp director's hand on my shoulder, turning me around to witness a standing ovation! And of course performing on the legendary Ariston stage is a thrill for any artist. And at Phil and Marlo's party I got to perform a Christmas carol request for Walter Cronkite!
Your musical influences
The Great American Songbook, of course, in particular Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and the Gershwins. All the great pop songwriters of the Sixties and Seventies, in particular Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Carly Simon, Bacharach and David, Williams and Nichols, Leon Russell. Then all of that a cappella repertoire from my college years--very important to have a strong tag!What equipment do you use?
My Yamaha Arranging Piano changed my life! I love being able to craft a beautiful demo, complete with vocal, using one piece of equipment in the course of one evening. Shure and Sennheiser are my microphones of choice, and if there is a piano onsite I hope it's a Yamaha or a Baldwin.Contact
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Comments (26)
Hi Sam! Great song! It was awesome to meet you the other night! Hoping we can connect and record, and have dinner! It was such a pleasure to connect. ❤️
Hi Sam! Great song! It was awesome to meet you the other night! Hoping we can connect and record, and have dinner! It was such a pleasure to connect. ❤️
This is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. The lyrics & music speak to me & draw me in every time I listen to it. I love the simplicity of how it's expressed.
Love this song. Great title and groove.
This song is truly great. It reminds me of your "Borneo." Where can I download this?
