PATRICE PIKE

Austin, Texas is known for its laid back, bohemian yet ultra committed music scene--something Austin native Patrice Pike immediately conveys. She's been a professional musician and songwriter since she was sixteen, but has maintained such a raw, down-to-earth quality and irrepressible talent that Billboard magazine proclaimed her "one of the finest up and coming contemporary rock singers in America". On the surface you may hear about these things but there’s more than meets the eye and the music biz spins… Pike is known to many as the electric front woman for the seminal Austin jam band Sister Seven which she co-founded when she was barely out of The High School for the performing and visual arts at Booker T. Washington in Dallas Texas. Their first major label album was a rare and unique live recording which at that time was unheard of in the music industry for a new breaking band. Patrice wrote and sang Sister Seven’s top 10 Billboard hit “Know What You Mean’. She was the USA Songwriting Competition Grand Prize Winner overall for the song “My Three Wishes”, co-written with her Sister Seven band members. In this contest she also garnered top prize for Pop category for “Nobody Knows” written with famed songwriter/producer John Shanks. And then, before stardom ever fully materialized, it evaporated. The band lost its label affiliation in the much publicized Arista shakeup that culminated in the firing of music industry legend Clive Davis. Patrice’s band mates needed to be with their families after being on the road incessantly for 9 years. They disbanded in 2000. Even as the band was flaming out, Pike was already in the process of being reenergized as a songwriter. Her solo material has taken an increasingly narrative turn. Over the past decade, she has independently released four acclaimed solo records, showcasing her socially astute, literate lyrics alongside her powerful vocals. She has toured relentlessly, both in the U.S. and overseas, building an impressive grassroots fan base. She has co-created numerous records and musical groups, toured all over the United States and Western Europe and just plain impressed those who've seen, heard and watched her. The resilient Pike has been able to adapt repeatedly to a rapidly changing music landscape that bears no resemblance to the one she entered as a 16 year old. Patrice was the youngest musician inducted into the Austin/Texas Music Hall of Fame. Along with that honor she was also named Musician of the Year, Best Female Vocalist, and Song of the year in Austin for her song Beautiful Thing, which she debuted on CBS in the Summer of 2006 She has continued to grow and evolve as both a songwriter and a performer, and is currently producing arguably the finest work of her music career even as she confronts the uncertainty of an industry in steep decline. She has performed in every possible live scenario from shed tours of traveling festivals like Lilith and HORDE tour to music festival institutions like Austin City Limit’s, High Sierra, Strawberry, and Kerrville festivals as well as community theaters, clubs and house concerts. She is known to her dedicated fans from diverse communities as a phenomenal and sincere live performer who is willing and grateful to play for them wherever they need and want her to be. Long a respected social and environmental activist, she is also the co-founder and now executive director of the Grace Foundation of Texas, an organization that provides services for young adult survivors of homelessness. An accomplished snowboarder and avid runner and surfer, she continues to travel the globe extensively. She has a disciplined meditation and Yoga practice. In short, she leads a rich, full, varied life that looks absolutely nothing like what she was aiming for when she embarked on her journey in music at 16. If you listen well, you will hear it in her voice and her music. She is as passionate as they come and in one of her own fans words, “Patrice is truly unforgettable. I listen to her as much as I can. I love the love she sings. I know it’s real.”