Rachael Yamagata

Rachael Yamagata is no heartbroken piano crooning wide-eyed doe. She does not suffer fools well. If something's not right, she rips it apart, grabs her tools and puts it back together -- literally and figuratively. Her songs may repair you, soothe you, get you through as so many of her 'troubadour of heartbreak' fans will tell you. But, you're going to do the work with her. Home Depot over shoe shopping. Karate AND yoga.

She grew up a twin so the soul mate search of meeting your match came naturally. Her four parents (Japanese-American, German-Italian, Southern spitfire, Jersey rebel) showed her connections beyond culture and environment.

Language, music, expression and balance were tonic for the introverted Yamagata dreaming of travel and expansion beyond the suburbs of MD where she grew up. She would backpack Europe alone, live solo in the Dominican Republic, move nine times in 10 years within Chicago, spend a few months on Venice Beach, 3 years in Philly and finally retrace steps to her mother's hometown of Woodstock, NY.

Elton John, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Ricki Lee Jones -- the singer-songwriters of the '70s were the soundtrack of her formative years. Later Tom Waits, Nina Simone, Prince and Aretha Franklin would join the mix as she stretched her live performance muscles in the Chicago band Bumpus. She'd fall in love, combat loneliness, dissect the state of heartbreak, write it out and stumble into a solo recording career with RCA, WB and now naturally her own label. She draws on multiple influences flirting with rock, haunted piano, poetry and pop. "Happenstance" (2004) had the singles, the darker "Elephants" (2007) got her critical acclaim and dropped from her label, "Chesapeake" (2011) was the fresher rebellion and "Heavyweight" (2012) got heavy.

Artists, spiritual guides, Washington, rock icons, indie groups, movies and tv -- the 'fan' backdrop is expansive. The common denominator has been connection from the get go: how we connect the inside shaping our outer world, connecting with each other shaping ourselves. Direct to Fan, Pledge, touring worldwide -- her business moves mirror the intimacy, vulnerability and strength of her music. Her greatest compliment remains simply:

"You sing what I've always wanted to say, but didn't know how..."