Unnofficial first-person mirror bio:

I grew up in western New York State on a bunch of farmland, and spent most of my time not enjoying the flora and fauna, but up in my room, in front of a tiny electronic keyboard. It was the best.

I went to college in Ithaca, New York for a year, to study classical voice (wobbly opera singing), but decided to move to New York City after a year because I was tired of skiing to and from my classes.

In New York City I went to NYU and got an obligatory college degree in vocal performance (nasal musical theater singing) and set out on auditions to be the next Bernadette Peters. But alas, I haven't the fiery red hair.

All this time I'd been writing my own music and words, safely denying myself the pleasure of singing them out loud, like any good catholic would.

But I stopped going to church and realized that songwriting was the only thing that made sense, so I set to it.

Now I am here, one album later, second one in the works, playing regular shows in New York City, sweating away in front of a piano, writing songs because I can't think of any other way to say anything.

I hope that what I sing means something to someone.

Ta da! A bio.

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Official third-person like-I-am-not-talking-about-myself bio:

The daughter of two schoolteachers, Angela taught herself to play piano in a house on twenty-four acres of evergreen forest in rural western New York State. Her unique brand of alt-indie piano pop was described by MusicDish.com as, "...right on the edge of jazz and Broadway, but[...]all dressed and ready to go as contemporary pop."

While studying vocal performance at NYU, she discovered that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote some wacky stuff, Puccini wrote songs that were impossibly hard to sing, and Wagner was probably not a very nice man. She also discovered that it was ultimately more fun to compose, so she began writing her own songs during the time that she was supposed to be practicing "Oh, dry the glist'ning tear".

The songs she began to write in hijacked college practice rooms became the foundation for her first album, "All About You"; a recent release from Random Chance Records. Recorded entirely at home, these eleven tracks include collaborations with some of the best musicians on the NYC music scene. The songs deal with everyday issues like disappointment and gratitude, self-doubt and self-indulgence, but mostly they revolve around a burning desire to answer the eternal question, "What's next?"

Now based in New York, Angela has had her music featured NPR, on radio stations all over the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as on numerous internet radio stations and podcasts. She is the recipient of the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Songwriters Award, and she performs year-round, playing to packed houses all over the country, and in her native New York. A recent review on TheRedAlert.com states, "If Tori Amos is the standard that all aspiring female piano pop artists will need to live up to, then Ortiz does not have a problem living up to these standards; in fact, she rises above them."

And she's just getting started.

New album coming soon!

posted Sunday at 12:47pm

I am currently in the studio working on material for my sophomore release with producers Sammy Merendino (Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Joan Osborne, Billy Joel) and Bill Wittman (The Outfield, The Fixx, The Hooters, Patti Smith).