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Artist Bio

One listen and it becomes crystal clear that Alyssa Bonagura was born to make music. With a voice that touches somewhere deep inside, her melodies and lyrics are as haunting as they are beautiful. From the youthful, bouncing ukulele sing along you may have heard on the nation wide 2012 Lowe's commercial, “I Make My Own Sunshine” to the rockin’, power-pop influenced “Warrior,” and everything in between, Alyssa has polished her own unique musical style. In a world where most artists tend to sound the same, Alyssa sounds fresh; new yet familiar; provocative yet reassuring. Born into a musical family, her mom and dad were RCA country music stars “Baillie And The Boys,” her cradle was the gentle rocking of a tour bus. Her play ground encompassed sound checks and back stage catering. Her “extended” family consisted of managers, promoters, drummers, pedal steel players, keyboards, guitars and the like.

At the age of 3 Alyssa performed on the Ralph Emory television show, Nashville Now. Ralph wanted to be able to say, “She performed on my show first” where her version of the Leslie Gore classic; “It’s My Party” brought the house down in front of millions of national viewers. At the age of 10 one of those major acts, Kenny Rogers decided Alyssa was the perfect “child singer” to record a duet with him on his Christmas CD, “Christmas From The Heart”. At the age of 13 Alyssa started her own 50 city tour opening for up Marty Stuart. Playing guitar and singing songs she wrote about “Fitting In” and “Boys”. It became obvious she was the real deal both as a musician and a singer but as a songwriter as well.

From there Alyssa’s songs found their way onto television shows, movies, as well as artists recording her songs on their own projects. After graduating high school, Alyssa received a full scholarship from Sennheiser to Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts in the U.K., where she would spend the next three years earning a degree in Sound Technology while continuing to perform in local venues throughout Europe. It was there that Alyssa experienced what most artists never experience; a private performance requested by the Queen to help support one of Liverpool’s local charities. A performance with Ringo Starr at the 800th Anniversary of Liverpool’s, “Capital Of Culture 2008” event; a performance slot at two of the world’s largest music festivals; Glastonbury and Knowsley Hall on the same bill with super stars Jason Mraz, The Who, and Bruce Springsteen, and a UK tour with Raul Malo of The Mavericks.

Soon returning to her home in Nashville, TN, Alyssa got a publishing deal with Rondor Music in Los Angeles, has been a “go to” studio session singer / player for artists like Vince Gill, Matt Maher, Jo Dee Messina, and many other major & independent artists; all the while recording and releasing her own music. Playing countless venues in nashville, not to mention festivals including Bonnaroo and the Sundance Film Festival, Alyssa has continued to hone her stage show in America and has created an underground buzz in the singer/songwriter community. “The English Diaries” was the first CD release, an all acoustic intimate collection of songs she recorded in her apartment in Liverpool about her UK experiences. This was followed by another somewhat acoustic CD, “Before The Breaking”. The songs on those 2 CD’s are classic singer-songwriter styling’s showing what Alyssa can do all by herself armed with a guitar or a mandolin. The next CD “Love Hard”, which was funded by a 10K dollar global kickstarter campaign, takes us straight into the pop world where Alyssa spent her time programming beats, arranging strings, and rocking out on electric guitar.

After spending time in LA and New York writing with the top songwriters across America, Alyssa has come back to Nashville and has been writing with the likes of Jeffrey Steele, Hunter Hayes, and JD Souther. Her upcoming release "Roots Run Deep," is full of songs which reflect growing up in a country music world, showing us that her musical home is really where it all began…
Alyssa Bonagura is absolutely the best new singer, songwriter, artist I have heard. Her voice, her musicianship, her melodies and her lyrics
move me with the honesty and passion of the legendary singer songwriters I grew up in awe of. Alyssa reaches down deep… and speaks a
language that is both human and divine. - Kye Fleming (Nashville Songwriter's Hall Of Fame Inductee)

Alyssa is stunning, original, a future star in the making - Robin Gibb (Member of the Bee Gees.)