Is it perseverance? Is it luck? Is it some deity smiling down upon us? How does it
happen when we get a chance to reinvent ourselves or to return to a lost dream?
Laurie has infused her new album “Alive Again” with the wonder and renewal one
feels when such moments present themselves. Perhaps because for Laurie, “Alive
Again” is itself the result of such an opportunity. Her musical career in the 60s and
70s came to an abrupt end after suffering severe damage to her vocal chords, the
result of a youthful mistake to continue with a performance during a bout of
laryngitis. During the following decades Laurie felt increasingly invisible until a
chance meeting with an old band-mate re-ignited her musical passion and the ambition
to pursue it. “Alive Again” is the result of that ambition, and through it Laurie has
again found her voice, herself, and a new chance to touch people with her music.

Bio

For Laurie Horn, her new album “Alive Again” represents two journeys. It is a mid point between two lives – one long, silent journey has come to a close, and another journey, a more liberating and creative one, has begun. When listening to “Alive Again” the sense of liberation and renewal radiates with the years of built up creative energy that Laurie has infused into every song on the album. Through these works, Laurie wishes to ignite something in the listener’s spirit so that they might soar, and also feel alive again.

Laurie’s silent journey started, ironically, amidst the sound of an American musical renaissance. She began her musical career as a teenager during the turbulent 60s and 70s. A singer with amazing range and power, Laurie thrilled her audiences, and felt energized with every performance.

Young, talented, touring the country with her band, singing, performing, partying with some of the greatest names in Rock and Roll…Laurie was on an adventure that most people only dream of during a time that laid the groundwork for modern American music and unprecedented expression.

It should be no surprise, of course, that there is a turn of events. This is where the night of youthful recklessness comes along, the one that has broken so many potential artists throughout the centuries. But in Laurie’s case it wasn’t an overdose, or a night of passion that lead to parenthood. Energetic and enthusiastic, Laurie pushed beyond her limits one night. With a bad case of laryngitis, she decided to go on with a show. It was a Janis Joplin impersonation that did her in…that night she severely damaged her vocal chords, and that was, for a while, the end. For a year she could only whisper. Her musical instrument damaged, it was believed that her artistic career was over.

Twenty invisible years passed.

It was a day in the late 1990s, far from the turmoil of the 60s, that reopened the doors for her. Laurie ran into one of her old band mates from decades before. Her friend invited her to a party where he had secretly arranged studio time with her and another old band member. Their mission: to re-awaken Laurie’s belief in her potential, and bring her back into doing what she did best.

That was it. All she needed was a little spark, a tiny push, and she was hooked. That night marked the beginning of a new journey.

On paper these transitions look so easy. Just add a little inspiration and the montage of writing music and playing a guitar begins, ending in bright lights and loud cheers. What they leave out, of course, is the years of doubt, the work, the false starts. For three years, Laurie tried forming bands only to watch them fall apart, or fronting bands with no ambition, or vision, or higher aspirations.

Frustrated, she determined that now was the time to do her own music – a solo project. She began writing again. For Laurie, writing is a cathartic experience, as she experiments with thoughts and ideas around her, turning them around and looking at them from different angles. Writing these songs, for her, was a test and a testimony as she took the watershed of creativity she had built up over the years, and poured it onto paper.

With a few songs under her belt she began the search for a studio and producer, another frustrating process which ended happily as an incredible collaboration between Laurie and Nick Dalbis. It was through this partnership that Alive Again finally emerged, three and a half years later.

Laurie draws from an eclectic group of influences:
Led Zeppelin, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Raitt, and Chrissie Hynde, to name a few. She chooses her influences carefully for each song, hoping to touch her audience on many levels; intellectual, emotional or spiritual, with a desire to inspire people to look inside themselves and learn to forgive.