Laura Zucker

Singer-songwriter Laura Zucker wins audiences over with a hard-won perspective and a positive spin. The powerful imagery of her songs and stories ring so true you might think shes read your diary - and youll find yourself humming her infectious melodies for days to come.

Shes a three-time finalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk competition in Texas and has received accolades and awards from songwriting and acoustic music organizations near and far including Mountain Stage NewSong, West Coast Songwriters Association, Just Plain folks, Music 2 Life. in 2013, Laura won the West Coast Songwriters' Association Best Song of the Year in 2013 and 2016 and  2014 brought an "Emerging Artist" showcase spot at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

Laura's Story:
Growing up in Highland Park, NJ, Laura was influenced by her familys collection of essential folk music, contrasted with the rock sounds emanating from the radio. Her parents played Marais and Miranda, the Kingston Trio, The Weavers, Harry Belafonte, Mozart, Bach while she played James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin, Motown, the Beatles.

As she began crafting her own songs in high school, she drew from her own experiences as all songwriters do. While attending Rutgers University, she performed in coffeehouses, clubs and college pubs along the New York- Philadelphia corridor for much of the early 1980s.

She took a break to attend law school and practice law, but knowing she'd need something to fall back on, she kept her music skills honed.

She settled in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 and began to write and play again. Her first CD Left Foot Forward was released in the spring of 2006, and in April of that year, The Confession won the Second Grand Prize in the West Coast Songwriters International Song Contest. She was also recognized by the organization for It Was You and I Cant Let Go with Best Song awards at their regional songwriting competitions. Laura's second cd "A Step Ahead" was born in 2008.

Her reputation for crafting vivid stories and compelling melodies began to grow. In 2007 and again in 2009 Laura was invited to play at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival where she was a New Folk Finalist both years. In 2008, she was a finalist in the Public Domain Foundations Music to Life contest and the Mountain Stage NewSong contest. Her video for Memorial Day rose to #5 on Neil Youngs Living With War Today video page.  The awards and accolades continued to roll in from around the world, and in 2013 the West Coast Songwriters' Association recognized "A Thousand Kisses Shy" as the best song of the Year.

In the first two CD collections Laura discovered and developed her voice, largely drawing from her own life experience. With her third release, By The Refinery Lights, she deftly transposed the experiences of others into an anthology of lyrics and melodies that trace narratives of life and love; the echoes of memories and the empathy of hope. The title track, in fact, is the story of how her own parents met and fell in love.

In 2013, Laura Released "Life Wide Open," a spirited bunch of songs reflecting on the inevitability of change, and our simultaneous fear of and longing for it. "Life Wide Open" is a haven for those feeling trapped and afraid, those feeling renewed by a new-found determination to make every minute count, and those surprised by the changes they see in themselves. 2018 brought "Say Yes",  an invitation to find the positive side of troubling times.