Alison Faith Levy

Alison Faith Levy is a San Francisco-based musician and songwriter, known as a pop and jazz performer on keyboards and vocals, most notably as a member of power pop group The Loud Family,[1] as well as for her later work as a children's musician in The Sippy Cups and as a solo artist.

Alison Faith Levy
Alison Faith Levy performing as part of Game Theory on July 20, 2013 in Sacramento
Background information
BornNew York
OriginSan Francisco
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, educator
InstrumentsKeyboards, vocals
Years active1994–
Labels
  • Mystery Lawn Music
  • 125 Records
  • Snacker Disc
  • Alias
Associated acts
WebsiteOfficial website

Musical career

Rock and jazz

In 1994, Levy released a solo EP, Grumbelina, followed by the 1995 single "The Scientist."[2]

Scott Miller invited Levy in 1997 to become a member of the Loud Family, filling a vacancy left by Paul Wieneke's departure.[3] Levy played keyboards and piano and provided backup vocals on the Loud Family's 1998 album Days for Days.[1][4] On the group's album Attractive Nuisance (2000), Levy also wrote and performed lead vocals on the song "The Apprentice."[1] After Miller's death in 2013, she joined Miller's 1980s band Game Theory as lead vocalist for a reunion performance at a memorial tribute in Sacramento.

Describing Levy's contribution to the Loud Family, Miller stated, "To me she brought in that classic 1967 to ’74 way of doing piano pop–rock that I’m all in favor of but can’t accomplish because I don’t play piano. She had the most sheer musicianly keyboard chops of anyone I’ve played with. And her vocals are pretty distinctive. More toward the soul end of things than other female singers I’ve had in the band. So that line-up had more of a Todd Rundgren, Cat Stevens, Rod Argent, Carole King approach."[5]

In 1998, shortly after the release of the Loud Family's Days for Days, Levy also issued her full-length solo debut, The Fog Show. She released a second solo CD, My World View, in 2000.[2]

In the late 1990s, Levy joined San Francisco psychedelic jazz collective Mushroom, and appears as keyboardist and vocalist on a number of their CDs.[6][7] Levy also performed with British folk rock tribute supergroup The Minstrel In The Galleries, featuring John Wesley Harding.[3]

With Jad Fair's guitarist Chuck Marcus, Levy formed the experimental group Sonoptic, which released the album Chore Overload in 1999.[8][9]

In 2008, with alternative rock musician Victor Krummenacher of Camper Van Beethoven, she formed the "Americana" rock band McCabe and Mrs. Miller.[2][10] She has also performed in the Bay Area with the Brian Cline Band.

Children's music

Turning in the 2000s to children's music, Levy was a founding member of the Sippy Cups, with whom she released the CDs Kids Rock for Peas (2005), Electric Storyland (2006), and The Time Machine (2009), and the four-song mini CD Snail Song & Magic Toast (2005).[10][11][12]

Levy's first solo CD of children's music, World of Wonder, produced by indie pop musician Allen Clapp of The Orange Peels, was released in 2012.[10][13][14] She now performs with her band Big Time Tot Rock, which includes Clapp on guitar, drummer Andrew Griffin, ukulele player/backing vocalist Karla Kane and bassist Khoi Huynh.[14]

The Start of Things (2015), her second solo children's CD, contains upbeat music with subtle themes of self-expression, self-empowerment and self-acceptance.[15]

Theatre, film and video

Levy is married to the independent filmmaker Danny Plotnick, and scored a number of his films. Levy appeared in Plotnick's 2003 rock documentary Loud Family Live 2000 and his 1999 short film Swingers' Serenade, and she co-wrote and co-directed the short film I, Socky with him in 1998.[16]

As of 2015, Levy and children's author Veronica Wolff were working with a musical theater company in San Francisco to adapt Levy's CD World of Wonder into a full-length stage musical for families.[15]

Notes
  1. Strong, Martin C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography. Canongate Books. p. 345. ISBN 9781841953359.
  2. Alison Faith Levy at AllMusic
  3. "Meet the Band". Loud Family (official website). Archived from the original on 6 November 2013.
  4. Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen (2002). All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 671–672. ISBN 9780879306533.
  5. Durkin, Thomas (12 November 2003). "Interview with Scott Miller of the Loud Family". Glorious Noise. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013.
  6. Henderson, Keith (July 1999). "Mushroom: Where Do You Want To Go Today?". Aural Innovations (7). Archived from the original on 19 August 2009.
  7. "Mushroom: Biography". Mushroom (official website). Archived from the original on 5 January 2009.
  8. Warpodisc and Warm-o'-Brisk Records. "Sonoptic - Chore Overload - wd 6". Sonic.net. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015.
  9. "Sonoptic: Chore Overload". Forced Exposure. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015.
  10. "About Alison Faith Levy". AlisonFaithLevy.com (official website). Archived from the original on 10 December 2012.
  11. "Sippy Alison". Sippy Cups (official website). Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  12. Waddell, Ray (30 May 2008). "Sippy Cups serves up rock 'n' roll for kids, parents". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
  13. Chung, Jessica (16 September 2013). "An Interview with Alison Faith Levy". San Mateo County Library. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  14. Freeman, Paul (26 June 2013). "Rockin' out with the pre-school set". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
  15. Mystery Lawn Music (2015). "Alison Faith Levy: The Start of Things". Archived from the original on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  16. "Danny Plotnick bio". Hi-Beam Online Magazine. Flicker. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012.
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