Lucy Schwartz stands expressionless under a green umbrella. No, it’s not raining. It’s the cover of ‘Winter in June,’ the second album from the Palisades Charter High School junior, which features nine original songs written by Lucy and recorded in her backyard studio. Lucy, a Palisades resident who has played the piano and sung since she was little, began writing her own music in fourth grade after attending a piano recital in which many of the performers had written their own songs. She was so inspired by them that when she got home, she wrote her first song. ‘I’ll start playing around on the piano,’ she says, ‘and if something sounds nice musically, I’ll go with it, humming and using nonsense words until eventually, it turns into a story.’ As a ninth grader, Schwartz won the PTA Reflections competition for music composition in California high schools, in 2006 she was a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition in the teen category, and this spring her song ‘I Don’t Know a Thing’ won first place. The ISC is an annual competition for professionals and amateurs whose songs are judged by a prestigious panel of music-industry professionals such as Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rosanne Cash. As her prize, Lucy received $3,000 in merchandise and services, including a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music’s five-week summer performance program, which she will attend this summer in Los Angeles. Lucy’s songs have been featured on several television shows, including ‘South Beach,’ ‘Runaway’ and ‘Arrested Development,’ on which she also provides the voice for the character, Mr. F. Most of Lucy’s songs come to her ‘out of the blue.’ However, she admits that her song ‘Paper Plane’ was written about her boyfriend. ‘He likes it, but I didn’t tell him until way after he had heard the song that it was about him.’ Lucy’s boyfriend is not the only one who enjoys her music. In March, at a CD release party at Village Books on Swarthmore, so many of Schwartz’s friends and fans came that they could barely fit in the store. ‘It was a really supportive audience,’ Lucy says. ‘Katie [O’Laughlin, the owner] said that she had never had so many people in the store. Luckily we managed to squish inside.’ At Village Books, Lucy played six songs from her album as well as a song she recently wrote called ‘Dover.’ Her father, David Schwartz, a TV and film composer, played bass and two backup singers accompanied her. ‘It was really great to be able to perform the songs live after recording them in the studio,’ Lucy says. This summer she plans to perform at music clubs around L.A., and on August 12 she will sing at the Harlem Meer Performance Festival in New York’s Central Park. As a result of her MySpace page (www.myspace.com/lucysong), Schwartz’s music has reached a world wide audience. ‘It’s so amazing how the Internet can connect you to people around the world!’ she says. ‘People just e-mailed me from Japan and Holland to tell me that they bought the CD.’ Lucy is unable to choose a favorite song from her album, but says that different listeners favor different tracks. ‘It’s too hard to choose a favorite song. It’s like choosing a favorite child,’ she says. ‘Everyone who listens to the CD has a different favorite. It’s interesting that people relate to different songs.’ Lucy’s ‘Winter in June’ is available at Village Books, myspace.com/lucysong, cdbaby.com/cd/lucysounds and iTunes.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
