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Kendall Payne
The first song I heard of her was “Scratch“. When I think about Kendall Payne’s music, three words come to my mind: strength, peace and harmony. I don’t know how I discover her music, but all I remember is my sister saying, about the song “Daddy“: “It’s good!” Now, I enjoy it a lot!
Here is the story of Kendall Payne.
Biography :
Kendall Payne was born in California 1980 and she began to make music and create songs when she was young. You can hear her at 9 years old on a hidden track on the last song of GROWN… you could already tell that she would have success!
She signed at the age of 17 a contract with Capitol Records (EMI) and in 1999, she released her first album, JORDAN’S SISTER. The album was produced by Ron Aniello (Barenaked Ladies, Jars of Clay, Sixpense None the Richer), except for the song “Honest“, which was produced by Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette, The Corrs, Annie Lennox). Kendall Payne explained the meaning of the cd title: “I called this album “Jordan’s Sister” because the songs are like a snapshot of a particular time in my life when I felt somewhat insignificant, when I felt like I was nothing more than Jordan’s younger sister. She’s two years older than me and as with many siblings, there was some rivalry, some frustration and tension. We’re much better now and she’s thrilled that I named the album after her!“
The success was there: she sold more than 100 000 copies of her album and 5 songs were choosen for movies or tv shows: “Closer to Myself” (Never Been Kissed and Someone Like You), “Wonderland” (Teaching Mrs Tingle), “Supermodels” (Popular’s opening theme), “Never Leave” (Cupid) and “The Second Day” (Beautiful). She had the chance to participate to Lilith Fair (Sarah McLachlan, Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, etc.) for two years and she also toured with Dido, Ron Sexsmith, Delirious? and Third Day. As a recognition of her talent, she received a Dove Award in 2001 for Modern Rock Album of the Year. The Dove Awards were created in 1969 by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) to honour musicians in Christian music. During that time, she also co-wrote a book, “Mirror Mirror“, with Kara Powell. This book, published in 2002 by Zondervan, allowed Kendall Payne to share her faith and beliefs with teenager girls through her own story.
All this happy fairytale ended up brutally in 2002, when she understood that her music label decided to stop their collaboration. Left without a contract, she received the financial help of her friend Zachary Levi (”Chuck” of NBC and “Less Than Perfect” of ABC) for her second album. Producted by Tim Schoenhals, it was recorded in 5 months in North Hollywood. 
GROWN was released in 2004 and, again, it was very popular. The song “Scratch” was used for Felicity, Grey’s Anatomy (twice!) and Kyle XY. The song “Rollercoaster” was also selected for Pepper Dennis, in 2006. For a second time, she wrote a book called “Soul Sisters“, published via Regal Books in 2005. As a talented writter, she likes to share her words in non-fiction and children’s books.
Time passed and the creation the third album was very different for this artist. Kendall Payne received a gift from her husband in 2006 – a piano – and she decided to use it for her next songs. She explained that her songwriting was more predictable with the guitar and that a new instrument was a good way to explore her creativity.
She was right: PAPER SKIN offered a great bunch of new songs and once again, she worked with Tim Schoenhals to produce the album. Like other great artist (John Mayer, Lori McKenna, Nicole Atkins), her songwriting talent was recognized in 2007, when she received the prestigious ASCAP Sammy Cahn Award. “I Will Show You Love” was featured in the episode “Haunt You Every Day” of the tv show Grey’s Anatomy (season 4) and just after, the song was the #1 song on the iTunes folk chart.
In 2008, Kendall Payne continued her great work by offering 2 new albums. When she was invited to lead a worship night at a local church, she thought that recording the performance would be a good idea. Because she had to rend the material for more than one night, she used that time to prepare a Christmas album.
Recorded in July 2008, THAT’S WHY THERE’S GRACE and DECEMBER were released at the end of last year. The first disc offers a collection of live worship songs, a cover of U2 “One” and an original piece (”That’s Why There’s Grace”), written for the circumstance.
With DECEMBER, she offers a bunch classical holidays songs. The softness of her voice was combined to clear sound of piano and this album proposed a more simple and sober music, which charmed Kendall Payne’s fans.
Let’s see what will come next…
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