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About
Lara When Lara was born in Southern California, it was clear that music was her destiny. With a piano teacher for a mom and an accountant for a dad, she had both sides of the brain running at full speed from the beginning. As soon as she could sit up at the piano, her mom started teaching Lara through the Suzuki method. At age three, she began ballet and tap dance, and later added some hip-hop and jazz. Because of her younger brother’s fondness for the violin, she tried the violin at age seven with her younger sister. Her musical family (mom on piano, and the three kids on piano and violin) were always out playing and singing for some event, whether it was for school, church, weddings, or birthdays. At one point, they were the featured performers at the prestigious Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, where Lara was applauded not only for her musical skills, but for the way she embraced and connected with the audience. In high school, musical theatre got Lara’s attention. She played Sarah in Guys and Dolls, Babe in Pajama Game, and various other roles, where she received awards citing her dynamic performances and depth of emotion. She not only acted, but directed as well: musical director of the class plays, director of one acts in the theatre department, and President of the theatre troupe—she was always involved in the Arts. After winning Top Female Vocalist at a California Thespian Festival and receiving a scholarship, Lara attended a two-week program on Broadway where she had the opportunity to perform in the Lamb’s Theatre and work with Broadway professionals, such as Marni Nixon. It was after these two weeks, while sitting in the airport on her way home, that she turned to her mom and said: “I want to sing as a career.” Soon after, she started playing keyboards in a rock band while singing backgrounds and trading off singing lead. Graduating Valedictorian of her High School Class, she entered into the University of Southern California’s Music Industry Program, with merit scholarships and top of the entering class. While learning the business aspects of making her dream come alive, Lara delved into the world of songwriting, recording, and performing at events and showcases. She was a featured artist on USC’s radio station, as well as an Entertainment Guest on Trojan Vision’s Platforum, and sang the national anthem at sporting events. She began singing backups for a rising star who used to be Macy Gray’s and Santana’s back up singer. Besides singing, she also did some modeling on the side and appeared in student films. While interning at a major record label, Lara received a great opportunity to take her career to the next level. Her boss was mesmerized by her talent and connected her with Dean Sams of the award-winning group Lonestar to produce a "Lara" project. Lara loaded her belongings in the car and drove cross-country to Nashville in the summer of 2002. She studied with top vocal coach Renee Grant-Williams, wrote with top writers such as Dean Sams, A.J. Masters, Kelly Shiver, Chris Pelcer, Roger Cook, Bobby Woods, and Marv Green (“Amazed”), worked at another major label, took a couple classes at Belmont University towards her USC Degree, and worked in the studio with Dean. Currently, Lara is in Los Angeles, where she just completed her last semester at USC (with a 4.0 GPA in the major and summa cum laude honor at graduation), and is collaborating with songwriters such as Amy Powers, Kasia Livingston, Gerry Stober, Michelle Myers, and Chris Boardman, Ken Larish, and performing. Lara realizes success does not happen overnight. Rather, she saus that it is the culmination of hard work meeting opportunity. Persistence is key, and she has what it takes to realize her dreams.
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