Free Dominguez

A Gypsy-like early upbringing helped evolve multi-talented Free Dominguez, a Texas native, into the artist she is today. The singer with the Cuban / Spanish heritage has been described as both a “storyteller” and a “true, versatile, honest” artist. The singer, formally trained by vocal coach Roger Love (The Beach Boys, Earth Wind & Fire, Matchbox 20), began playing piano at an early age, writing her first song at the age of six. Her early musical tastes varied greatly and include: Annie Lennox, Stevie Nicks, Prince, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, Public Enemy and DePeche Mode. At 20 years old, Dominguez moved to Los Angeles. After two years and some encouragement from a neighbor, an artist with whom she had shared some poetry, she decided to pursue music. Shortly after, she met musician/engineer Bruce Somers. With Somers she wrote songs for Grammy Award winning film composer/musician Mark Isham (Blade, A River Runs Through It, Crash). The pair formed the rock group Kidneythieves. Kidneythieves gained loyal fans due greatly to the hypnotic, sultry, and emotional vocals which exude from the petite Dominguez on tracks such as “Black Bullet,” “Arsenal” and “Serene Dream” from the album Zerospace (2002). The group worked with producer/mixer/engineer Sean Beavan (NIN, Marylin Manson, No Doubt). Two full lengths and an EP later (Trickster - 1998, Phi in the Sky - 2001, and Zerospace - 2002) the Kidneythieves began their own projects in 2003 with Somers, Schleyer, and Sellers forming the group Shocknina allowing Dominguez time to work on her first independent effort entitled, Freedoming. Freedoming, released in 2004, features 11 emotion-stirring tracks, including “Wicked Times” (written in the wake of 9/11), “Questions & Lies” and “Recurring Dream”. The album showcases Dominguez’s coming to terms with life and her first love, the piano. The album was completed over the course of six months and accomplished mainly in the singer’s bedroom. This first solo album made people take notice gaining rave reviews and expanded Dominguez’s already vast fan base. In 2004, Dominguez became involved in the European Insider project featuring 80’s-inspired, catchy tunes such as “Geisha Superfly”, “War of Love” and “Invisible” a haunting track reminiscent of Madonna. In this album she collaborated with European DJ/Electronic Music Producer DJ Insider, Matt (Dr.Fink) Fink, and Leeds (from Prince’s The Revolution). The project had Dominguez splitting time between an apartment in Brussels, and her home and recording studios in Los Angeles where she had begun working on her second solo album, entitled Core: A Zone. For this sophomore release Dominguez had the opportunity to work with Robert “Free” Bradford (of Erykah Badu’s Grammy award winning “Baduizm”) and Peter Malick (Norah Jones). With Core: A Zone she accepted the help of many talented people, and has re-visited her roots and incorporated early influences ranging from rock, country and soul. This album will allow others to see how the singer has evolved as an artist. Dominguez who early on made a lot of sacrifices for her career, who states life experiences and being part of a band have taught her how to compromise, and to be a conductor and leader, is busy enjoying life now and not waiting for things to happen. She plans to continue collaborating with others and feels “that the only way we get through life is by sharing.” The advice she offers to others, especially those just starting out, is “to always be willing to get better” and to just “be inspired.” Yoga is also credited with helping to make her a better person, singer, and writer. Dominguez states that it has “saved her psyche and spirit.” Aside from music and yoga, the southern vocalist has a love for cooking and fantasizes to one day open her own restaurant which will feature a menu filled with a collection of top secret recipes. Music from Free Dominguez can currently be found on her website www.FreeDominguez.com and on Myspace.com at www.myspace.com/FreeDominguez Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.