Lizzy Parks

If it's an in depth explanation of my life and career so far, you'd better catch me after a gig with a good bottle of red! But for those of you who have just met me, the basic story goes like this …
I'm a Devon lass who's lived and loved music for as long as I can remember. Tooting the Clarinet and Saxophone given to me by my encouraging and supportive parents from the age of 7 gave me my thirst for jazz, then after discovering my voice with the school big band during a rendition of Skylark aged 11 there was no stopping me!
I went on to study music in all sorts of places, from clubs (doing my first live club gig aged 13) to Conservatoires, Orchestras to jam sessions. I spent most of my childhood learning about music from records and some hugely inspiring teachers but the real lessons happened on stage, on the job, during the gigs!
When I was experimenting and finding my musical footing, I performed in pop, soul, indie, rock and electro bands alike, having a go at crooning over whatever music was getting my foot tapping! Finally I found my absolute love and thirst for all things jazzy, soulful and honest.
I got my first taste of session work with Chris Bowden, performing Crockers and Killers on his Slightly Askew album for Ninja Tune back in 2001. After recording for various other artists I released my debut album Watching Space in 2005 with indie label, The Birds Recording Company.
After touring Europe as the featured vocalist with the 'Nostalgia 77 Octet' , I become part of the Tru Thoughts family with whom I release a deep orchestral soul/jazz album, Raise The Roof, co-written and produced with bass player Riaan Vosloo and Nostalga 77's Ben Lamdin. Released in 2008 this album still remains something I am very proud of and to me,it is a timeless masterpiece. I still love introducing people to the vast soundscape we managed to create within this very special album.
Having gigged the music from 'Raise the Roof' successfully across UK and Europe, me and the production and orchestration dream team (Ben Lamdin and Riaan Vosloo) then went on to record an entirely acoustic album which we released again with the record label Tru Thoughts in 2009. This album entitled This and That', was a combination of carefully chosen covers, acoustic versions of some of the songs from the previous album and some brand new material. I then put together an acoustic band and headed off again on tour!
Having appeared on stage with my own band, Nostalgia 77 (Tru Thoughts) and The Heritage Orchestra (Brownswood), during all of this time and now more than ever, I can be found fronting other creative music projects such as a jazz, deep groove, electronic collective called 'Maylight' featuring DJ and producer Chris Read, Damon Alban's 'Monkey' project Pianist, Rob Barron and Midlands based Saxophonist Mary Wakelam. Against all the odds, I'm also working with an intensely talented producer on a new drum and bass project called 'Qualia' which takes influence from the likes of 'Massive Attack' and which i'm very excited about. The first singles are due to launch later this year. I'm also currently working on an independent songwriting project called 'Trinket' which is a collection of cute, simplistic, beautiful and thoughtful musical ditty's, but most importantly I went back to the drawing board during the summer of 2011 and am now making plans for a new album release sometime in 2012/2013. So watch this space!
All of my musical releases can be found online on i-tunes or amazon or ordered in any good music shop! You can also watch me on youtube! I gig regularly in bars, clubs, live music venues, festivals, theatres, dens and dives all over the UK (alot in London!!) and spend time in The South of France where I find a lot of creative influence and have been lucky enough to find some great people! I sometimes perform with my acoustic duo/trio and at other times with my full 5 piece live band and sometimes I even spring up behind the odd DJ booth to entertain the club crowds my with my dulcet tones!
A Jazzy lassy? A soulful bird? Call it what you like … lets just hope you find as much pleasure in it as I do!
Enjoy…