Summer XO

Summer XO

Summer XO with one of her Wechter Pathmaker guitars
Background information
Birth name Summer Rose Virshup
Genres Pop, Indie pop
Occupation(s) Musician Songwriter Visual Artist
Instruments Vocal, Guitar, keyboards, ukulele
Years active 2006-present
Labels Independent
Website www.SummerXO.com

Summer Rose Virshup better known as Summer XO, (born August 12, 1985[1]) is a Los Angeles-based American singer-songwriter who plays guitar, piano, and ukulele. Though not her primary focus, she is also a visual artist who creates poster-size pastel drawings of abstract emotive female faces.

Musical Career Biography

In May 2014, Summer XO ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to release a six-song EP, titled, "Hello World." [2] This EP is being released as individual singles, beginning June 2015. The first single to be released was, "That One Thing." [3] Half the songs were produced by producer Mikal Blue, who is best known for his work on Colbie Caillat's "Coco (album)."

Before renaming herself and securing the US Trademark for Summer XO in 2013, she performed as and held the trademark for the name "Summer." [4]

In June 2013, she released the song "Invented The Word",[5] which was accompanied by an official music video. It was produced by Henry Strange and Uri Djemal.

In August, 2012, Summer digitally released a cover version of the Cyndi Lauper song, "True Colors", produced by Henry Strange and Jess Stroup.[6]

Summer released the album Timing And Lighting [7] on LossLess Records in September, 2008. It was produced by Henry Strange, with the exception of the song, "Messed Up," which was produced by Jess Stroup.

In October, 2006, Summer was recognized as one of the “Top Ten Songwriters of 2006” by the Portland Songwriting Association.[8]

Summer XO exclusively plays handmade Wechter brand acoustic guitars that have a visually unique double cutaway body style. She owns three Wechter Pathmaker Elite series.[9] She often performs with all three on stage because of her use of different guitar tunings.

Visual Art Biography

Since 2005, Summer XO has been regularly continuing her work on a series of pastel drawings of abstract female faces that depict a clear emotion.[10] She sells them online through her online store/.[11] Due to the subject matter, Summer XO refers to the pieces in this series as "The Girls." She also often displays her drawings on stage during music performances.

Personal life

Originally from West Virginia, Summer XO is the eldest of five children. She spent most of her youth in the small town of Bridgeport, WV. Her father is an engineer and her mother is a homemaker. The 6' tall Summer XO took up residence in Tampa, FL, Aix-En-Provence, France, Los Angeles, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL, Portland, OR, Miami, FL, and Paris, France. Summer XO moved to her current residence in Los Angeles in March 2013. From December 2011 to January 2013, Summer XO lived in Paris, France. While there, she busked in the Paris metro and played live shows.[12] Her marital status as of 2015 is unmarried and she has no children.

Discography

Summer XO Performing in Paris in July 2012

Albums

Singles

References

  1. "UBL: artist profile - Summer". Ubl.com. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  2. "Finishing Summer XO's Hello World EP" (website). kickstarter.com. Retrieved 2014-11-28.
  3. "that-one-thing-single" (website). itunes.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  4. "Summer XO Trademark" (website). USPTO.gove. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  5. "Invented The Word on iTunes" (website). iTunes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  6. "True Colors on iTunes" (website). iTunes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
  7. "True Colors on iTunes" (website). iTunes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
  8. "psa_newsletter_spring2007.FH10" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  9. "photo of Summer's live performance with Wechter Guitars". Facebook.com. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  10. "Summer XO Painting Page" (website). storenvy.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  11. "Summer XO Painting Online Store" (website). storenvy.com. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  12. "Summer to offer Paintings in Online Store". Fanbridge.com. Retrieved 2012-12-19.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.