Elisabeth Ashley

At the Viper Room, a new pop artist took to the stage and graced her presence and sound to all those present on the Sunset Strip that evening. Wearing a shiny sequin dress and matching sparkly tiara, pop artist, Elisabeth Ashley, dazzled the audience with a strong performance.

Elisabeth broke out singing pop licks and catchy ballads that were not only well-produced, but definite crowd pleasers. Changing up the look of her show Elisabeth refreshed the audience providing a live band to perform with her instead of backing dancers that you would see with most pop artists these days. This added a little edge and diversity to the performance and made her stand out rather than sink into the background. One song that stood out amongst others was Taboo. A favorite amongst herself and her fans, this song had an addicting chorus, and heart pounding backbeats that are perfect to take over and surround you when trying to escape your troubles and shake them off on the dance floor.

Although Elisabeth Ashley does follow in the footsteps of the many pop artists we know and love today, don’t categorize her with those that are merely a manufactured look and sound. She’s been singing and performing since around the age of 12, and has studied at the Orange County High School of Performing Arts to harness her talents. After a lucky blind submission to Tate Music Group, the label listened to her first independent release, Written Accidentally On Purpose, and said that this was exactly what they were missing from their roster of artists. “I sent an old song called Rain Falls Down to them and then a CD randomly and they said ‘why didn’t you send this to us in the first place?!’ ” Elisabeth’s initial draw to the label was their belief in developing artists that were creative talents and not redeveloping them into something they’re not naturally.

“They really work like a family and are really powerful about protecting the artists right and making sure that they’re believable. It’s really finding an artist that is already an artist, and furthering their career, not just creating a career for them.” Unlike her first album, which was a simple introduction to her sound, style, and talent, her follow-up Escaping Vanity Fair is more about having fun but touches on strong issues that surround Elisabeth’s life. The title of her album actually comes from an idea that was coined from one of her favorite books she read called Pilgrim’s Progress.

“I grew up reading this book called Pilgrim’s Progress. It talks about this guy who goes through these different towns and experiences different types of people that try to control his life and one of these places is called Vanity Fair. It’s about people who really tear you down for just saying what you want to say and being who you want to be...sometimes I feel it’s how our lives can be, people can paint this picture of what your life is supposed to be and it’s not who you real- ly are...A lot of the things that were happening around me, a lot of the criticism and controversy, I felt the title was mildly expressing how I was going to get out of this funk.”

With a good range of depth and emotion in her voice and lyrics Elisabeth is one artist who won’t fade out anytime soon. Already having two albums under her belt, she’s now working with her producer and co-writer, Brad Hooks on more projects for the year. She’ll be playing the Cat Club on February 28th to add another notch on her belt to the legendary Hollywood venues so please check her out before this lady is out of reach and opening for Ms. Spears herself! For tour dates, upcoming events, and to purchase her album, you can go to www.ElisabethAshley.com, Ilike.com, and ITunes. - Valley Scene Magazine