THE LAURIE BERKNER BAND

Laurie Berkner (guitar, vocals) has been a professional musician since 1992, but her success as a children’s recording artist was a surprise to her. “It was so unexpected,” says Laurie. “I’d been performing in rock bands and struggling to write original music. Writing music for kids has not been a struggle at all. The more I started working on material for children, the more I realized that it opened up creativity in me that I never knew I had.” These days critics widely acknowledge Laurie’s major contribution toward launching what is now dubbed the progressive “kindie rock” movement – i.e. less saccharine, more rocking music that is not dumbed down for children. But it wasn’t simply an enormous amount of talent that helped create an entire genre and skyrocketed Laurie to her current position as “the queen of children’s music” (People Magazine). It was an ability to gain parents’ enthusiasm for the songs as well. According to Laurie, “When I’m writing a song, I’m thinking about whether the kids will like it and whether I’m going to connect to them through it. I’m also thinking about whether I want to sing it over and over again, so I guess that’s the part that connects with adults. Old MacDonald Had A Farm is a great song for kids, but I couldn’t sing it 100 times!” While Laurie never planned to be a children’s performer, looking back on her career it almost seems inevitable. While growing up in Princeton, New Jersey, Laurie was always involved in music, whether singing in choirs, playing in bands, or performing in musical theater. Laurie recalls enjoying Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and Broadway musicals as a young child, as well as Simon & Garfunkel and Marlo Thomas’ Free To Be You And Me album. In high school and throughout college (at Rutgers University), she toured Europe with several choirs and orchestras as a soloist and guitarist. After graduation, Laurie worked at summer camps and then spent several years as a children’s music specialist at New York area preschool and day care centers. Working with children became the perfect creative outlet for Laurie to express her talents and create something that, she says, “has turned out to be incredibly rewarding.” Laurie has released five CDs, Whaddaya Think Of That? (2007); Buzz Buzz (199); Victor Vito (1999); Under A Shady Tree (2002); and Rocketship Run (2008) as well as a greatest hits collection. Her Two Tomatoes Records has also co-released (with Razor & Tie Entertainment) two DVDs, We are . . . The Laurie Berkner Band (2006) and Party Day! (2011). Laurie recently authored Barnes & Noble’s first-ever original NOOK Kids™ Read and Play™ NOOK Kids™ Book, based on the title track from Party Day!. Laurie continues to be inspired by her audience. “I want to create songs that matter for children,” she says. “I was singing once and saw a four-year-old girl shut her eyes and start swaying to the music. I thought, ‘That’s the reason I got into music.’ It keeps me wanting to do more.” When she’s not making music, Laurie enjoys visiting the farmer’s market for organic produce, knitting, biking and spending time with Brian and their daughter Lucy. They live in New York City. Susie Lampert (keyboards, vocals) Susie Lampert grew up in Pomona, NY in a large family with five siblings, dogs and cats. From an early age, she loved music and played piano. Her first live venture came at age 15, playing in a jazz group influenced by Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane and Lee Morgan, among others. That same year, Susie hooked up with a punk band called Ruby and the Rednecks, which became the house band for New York City's Playhouse of the Ridiculous. She wrote music for and played keyboards in a number of Off-Off-Broadway plays, and shared stages at legendary NYC venues Max's Kansas City and CBGB's with such infamous musicians as Iggy Pop and The New York Dolls. Susie performed in many other bands throughout the years, in genres ranging from Country to Bluegrass to Rock. During the early '80s, she discovered Milton Nascimento and Brazilian music, and found herself "enraptured and forever changed." She learned Portuguese and traveled to Brazil frequently to buy records and become acquainted with the culture. During those years, she also became a registered nurse and worked part-time while pursuing her music. Susie met Laurie Berkner over 10 years ago when they were both working at New York City's Rockefeller University. Laurie was a preschool music teacher, and Susie was a research nurse. Says Susie of their first meeting, "Laurie was sprawled out on the floor, lost under her headphones with her eyes closed, listening intently. An aerobics class was assembling around her and I intervened, suggesting she might want to make way for the class, and asked her what she was listening to.... It was her own band (adult music) and she shared the tape with me. We made a fast and deep connection, resulting in spending three years gigging with Lois Lane, an all-female cover band. When Laurie left the band to pursue her kids' music career I joined her playing schools, libraries etc. as a duo. The rest everybody knows!" These days, Susie is excited with her musical life. She not only sang and played keyboards on 2008's 'Rocketship Run,' she also wrote several songs and co-arranged much of the album's music with her bandmates. Susie relishes time with her long-term boyfriend, family, friends and cats. She enjoys her daily meditation practice, yoga and samba, as well as her special time with her fairy godchild, otherwise known as Laurie's daughter, Lucy Day Mueller. Adam Bernstein (bass) “Regardless of format, Adam Berstein is a brilliant tunesmith whose colorful vibes blind the shady music industry” - Home News (NJ) Adam Bernstein played bass on Laurie Berkner’s first three award-winning and critically acclaimed releases, 1997’s Whaddaya Think Of That?, 1998’s Buzz Buzz, and 1999’s Victor Vito before officially joining the band. On 2008’s Rocketship Run, and the 2011 DVD Party Day! he expanded his contribution to the band by lending his singing, songwriting and arranging talents. An accomplished composer, arranger and educator, Adam led the successful folk/rock/klezmer/funk 14-piece big band All God's Children for six years. He later performed and/or recorded with a wide range of talented musicians and dancers, including Levon Helm; Sahib Shihab; Perry Robinson; Walter Perkins; Ethel (string quartet); Teocinte (from El Salvador); Jack Hardy; Claire Daly; The Angstones; Solar; David Driver; Sean Altman and Jennifer Muller/The Works. In 1990 Adam toured Japan with Hilario Soto's Higher Culture, and in 1993 studied percussion at the Escuela Nacional De Danzaq Moderna Y Folklorica in Havana, Cuba. Adam has composed and arranged many scores for dance, which have been presented at performances spaces such as Columbia and Rutgers universities. In 1998, while continuing to perform and record, Adam turned his attention toward jazz education. He recently ended his tenure as jazz director at the Berkeley-Carroll School in Brooklyn, NY and faculty member at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and currently heads the Jazz Mindfulness Program, an innovative music program combining meditation and jazz instruction for young people and adults. He has received a proclamation for his outstanding work in jazz education from Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz. Adam has released four solo CDs, including Dust Off The Timeless Night, produced by They Might Be Giants’ drummer Marty Beller, and featuring special guest Laurie Berkner! His latest self-produced, arranged and recorded CD The World becomes Your Mirror was released in December, 2011 and features Marty Beller, Jack Petruzzelli (Rufus Wainwright/Fab Faux), Paul Carbonara, and many others. Adam is spending part of 2012 on tour with noted singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton. Bob Golden (drums and percussion) joined The Laurie Berkner Band as an official member in the spring of 2009. Says Laurie, "Bob Golden is the perfect fit for our band. He's a great drummer who is extremely creative with every sound that he brings to each song. His playful energy and strong musicianship is just right for our live shows and recordings. He's also a wonderful guy and a great engineer and producer. We're so happy and lucky to be working with him!" Laurie and Bob met on the set of Jack's Big Music Show, for which he was writing and producing songs. Laurie asked him to co-produce 2006's We are . . . The Laurie Berkner Band DVD, and 2008's Rocketship Run CD, on which he also performed on drums, percussion and miscellaneous instruments as well as orchestrating several songs. Bob later began performing with the band at live shows. Bob recently produced the music for Laurie’s latest DVD, Party Day!. Bob's prolific television career has included writing and producing songs for the Nick Jr. shows Dora The Explorer, Jack’s Big Music Show and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss; PBS' Sesame Street, Gullah Gullah Island, Lamb Chop's Play-Along and Seemore's Playhouse; Disney's Out of the Box and HBO's Jammin' Animals. Bob collaborated with Jonathan Larson (the late Tony and Pulitzer prize winning author of Rent) on the popular children's video entitled Away We Go!. He has scored numerous documentaries and was music director, music producer and theme song composer for Insomniac With Dave Attel, Craft Corner Deathmatch, Code Blue, Strangers with Candy, The Gong Show with Dave Attell, Martha Stewart's Home for the Holidays and the Sundance channel's Festival Dailies. Bob also wrote and produced music for Michael Moore's television series TV Nation and The Awful Truth, as well as for the award winning films, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 911 and Capitalism: A Love Story. He appeared as a drummer in the movies The 10 (2007), for which he produced the closing song, and What Happens In Vegas (2008). Bob composed all the music for the 2010 film Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks. He currently performs on drums for the house band on NBC's 30 Rock. Bob co-authored The Jerky Boys: The Book (1995) and Why Didn't I Think of That? (1997) and co-wrote AOL's first online interactive game for kids, The Quest.