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Karrie
Singer/songwriter Karrie (O’ Sullivan) released her debut CD Jellylegged, last September in Ireland. These are at the links to the album http://soundcloud.com/karrie-meenala-music/sets/the-pop-rock-songs-1/ and http://soundcloud.com/karrie-meenala-music/sets/the-slower-ones/ Background. Karrie in her previous incarnation, is a horse trainer. She specialised in the breaking and training of young showjumpers. The recession and the well publicised over-supply of horses meant a sharp downturn in the numbers of people investing in horses. Karrie is from a musical family, where the ability to sing well is treated as nothing special. However, having seen her nephew Mick Flannery have success as a recording artist, Karrie was inspired to write songs and perform them. Karrie's sister Yvonne sings as part of Mick's band and Mick's mother Elaine often sings backing vocals at Karrie's gigs. Karrie started work on the album in 2009 with Chris Ahern, a family friend and senior lecturer in music at Colaiste An Stiofan Naiofa (also of The Stargazers) adding music to Karrie’s lyrics and melodies. Their common thread of interest in Irish artists like Paul Brady and American folk music meant a meeting of minds and the songs flowed from there. The album has 2 threads: upbeat, radio friendly rock songs like Greener Grass or the pop debut single Have We Got Plans and slower, melancholic numbers like Elbow Deep and the second single, Hey Baby. Renown Traditional musician Pat Ahern then produced the album and it was mastered in Los Angeles by Killarney man Ruairi O' Flaherty. Airplay/Touring We launched the album with a full band in Dublin, Cork and Siamsa Tire, Tralee in September 2011. 3 singles in total were released from the album and all received airplay both nationally and locally. Our strongest supporters have been Radio 1 (John Creedon, Alf McCarthy, Lillian Smith (The Late Date), Shane Byrne (Risin' Time), John Murray, Cork 96/103 FM, Radio Kerry and seven other stations. This has been supported with lots of live performances. The music has broad appeal and we put it in front of targeted audiences. We worked hard to build relationships with other artists in order to open shows for them. If you check out our online presence http://www.karriesmusic.com/shows you can see we have been very busy supporting Mary Coughlan, Paul Brady, Paddy Casey, Declan O' Rourke, DeDannan, Mick Hanly, Mick Flannery (including his sell-out show at the Olympia), T with The Maggies and Mundy. These shows are interspersed with our own gigs and festival appearances where appropriate. Testimony Other individuals in the industry have remarked on the quality of Karrie's voice and songs, including Jackie Hayden, Shay Healy and Charlie McGettigan (who gave Karrie a full hour on air on Shannonside/Northern Sound FM) . I have included a couple of newspaper links below. All the artists (above) Karrie has supported have offered positive quotes on her ability as a songwriter and performer and popularity at shows. Sales We have sold 1500 albums in 12 months, 95 % of which have been hard copies at around 60 gigs. Typically we would only have brought a guitarist to do shows, although we have a band in place for the bigger gigs and recordings. I have backed up our musical releases with regular press releases, media packs and emails to radio, TV and print media, broad stroke mailing and bespoke mails for certain individuals and stations/other media. The immediate future · We have 2 singles for release from the end of October onwards. · We hope these to be our breakthrough pop songs accessing the Irish Charts, 2FM, Today FM and Radio 1. · We have secured the support slots for Mick Flannery Tour in Ireland Nov/Dec 2012, including The Olympia in November. · We will have a media campaign during this time. I have included several attachments that you may be interested in. Karrie is active on her website http://www.karriesmusic.com and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/karrie.music . Also see http://www.hotpress.com/Karrie/news/New-single-and-Flannery-support-for- Karrie/8862123.html?new_layout=1 http://youtu.be/H-cydAymXg4 Video available at