Dear music fan, will you please take a few minutes to listen to the wonderful, real, inspirational, sometimes humorous, and heartfelt speech by songwriter Paul Williams at the Ascap expo? It's about songwriters, their creative process, copyrights and the importance of music. Many sites benefit from songwriters at their expense. Please listen and spread the word, we want to continue to make music for you: click here to listen. Thank you!
Keeping up with this site is easy, keeping up with my schedule is ...sometimes challenging. So, shows are coming up, in San Francisco, L.A., Monterey, then up and down the Coast! I look forward to meeting you all! Oh yeah and I announced a performance break while I record, looks like they will happen at the same time :)
Following 2 shows and a magical weekend in Guerneville, CA, where 100Thousand Poets for Change was founded, I'm heading to Santa Rosa, CA, this Friday May 3rd, invited by some of the folks I met and played for. Details are here.
Saturday May 4th, I play in Sausalito, CA with percussionist drummer friend Steve La Porta, info is also here.
I look forward to seeing my Marin friends! Come enjoy delicious food and heart warming sounds.
After these two shows I'll take a short performing break, and focus on a new recording: with producer friends Greg Sankovich and Lincoln Adler we've been in pre-production mode and I'm super excited about the way the pre-pro tracks are sounding.
We're also working on my upcoming NorthWest to Southern California tour, I look forward to meeting you along the way and bringing you music!
Grateful to have been included in the V.I.P. tent line-up for EarthDay SF 2013. Playing with chords for:
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THE EARTH PLEDGE
I pledge allegiance to the Earth
on which I live
and to all Her Creatures
Large and Small
and to Her Water, Air and Soil
One World, One People
Undivided
with Food, Shelter, Health
Peace and Freedom
Love and Justice
for All
THE NEW YEAR
is flying by! So far so good!
I'm back from Paris and an extended stay with my folks in the Alps. I also attended #Midem, the music conference in Cannes. And spent time with my brother and his family in the small village where the inspiration for my last release: "This Is Happiness" was born.
Sign on to my mailing list at top right of this page now, and get a free download to "This Is Happiness" the extended version!
BOBBY SHARP
This is a link to "Hand In Hand - The Documentary", with Bobby Sharp, author of "Unchain My Heart": http://bit.ly/K7U3JM
In it Bobby talks about some of his Tin Pan Alley experiences and the song he gave me to release which he wrote in 1947. "Hand In Hand" is Bobby's last recording, at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. He was on top of the world happy. We sing the song as a duet, which is only available on the hard copy of the CD @ CDBaby . The piano track you hear on the video is Bobby playing, we sing together at the end of the documentary. Hope you enjoy it, it gets to me every time.
The video is also included on my last release "This Is Happiness - Hand In Hand", an enhanced CD with 3 videos.
R.I.P. Robert Louis Sharp a.k.a Bobby Sharp
November 26, 1924 - January 29, 2013
It is with great sadness that I share with you that our Bobby is gone: Bobby Sharp, author of Unchain My Heart and many songs, friend extraordinaire, died peacefully January 29 at Kaiser Hospital. He fell last week and did not recover from the complications. Our Bobby is now with the Angels. Rest In Peace Bobby, you are loved.
photos by Kris Mikkelson
MIDEM
Thank you to all who got me to #15 out of 308 to play on the main stage @ #Midem. Today, Jan. 29, is the last day of Midem in Cannes and I am so grateful I got to attend the conference. The music industry is a very interesting place: "All the actors in the ongoing conversation can be found at Midem". It's true: there are artists, producers, promoters, publishers, ad agency reps, managers, countries, brands, attorneys, PROs. It is great that we all get together and discuss what we can all do collectively.
Bobby Sharp with Fantasy Studios Director Jeffrey Wood and Engineer Mixer extraordinaire Adam Muñoz
BOOK ME FOR A HOUSE CONCERT
Am I coming to see you?
Want to book me for a house concert? This app makes it easy: click here
Let's work it out and have fun! I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you!
VIDEO
On the set of the video for my Single, available on CDBaby: "This Is Happiness".
Click here for Happiness the video
Scott Yanow, jazz historian and journalist:
"Clara Bellino is a delightful singer/songwriter who has an attractive voice, a way with words, and a knack for writing catchable melodies. Her CD, This Is Happiness – Hand In Hand, is notable in a few ways. Her song “This Is Happiness” is quite infectious and will have listeners singing along. “Hand In Hand” is a previously unrecorded song by the legendary Bobby Sharp (best known for “Unchain My Heart”) that has Clara duetting with the 87-year old songwriter. In addition, the enhanced CD has fun videos of both of the songs plus a documentary that is a discussion with Bobby Sharp about his life.
"Give this CD a listen (and a look) and if you like what you see and hear, tell your readers and listeners. Clara Bellino is a talent well worth discovering."
Scott Yanow
Greg Hoffman, official Chet Helms biographer:
“Clara Bellino brings much more than her amazing vocal talent to the stage. She also brings a sparkling personality that wraps her sweetness, vulnerability, humor and sensuousness into one very appealing package. She is, on large stage or small, a complete performer.”
Greg Hoffman
Clara Bellino has the disarming quality of sounding like no one in particular yet someone distinctly familiar. As footloose and fancy-free as contemplation can be, this EP is not your typical ear candy. This is more like a shell on Clara Bellino’s private beach...one you playfully put to your ear as you rock back on your heels, listen and think, “This is Happiness.” </p>
<p>****<br />~ T. L. Murray<br />Owner, *Jazz-O-Mat Radio</p>"Clara Bellino has the disarming quality of sounding like no one in particular yet someone distinctly familiar. As footloose and fancy-free as contemplation can be, this EP is not your typical ear candy. This is more like a shell on Clara Bellino's private beach...one you playfully put to your ear as you rock back on your heels, listen and think, 'This is Happiness.'
