Anya Marina
is a singer-songwriter based in San Diego, California. Her music has been featured on the ABC television drama Grey's Anatomy
as well as CBS's How I Met Your Mother
, MTV's The Real World
and CW's Gossip Girl
.
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ANYA MARINA TICKETS
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Early life
Anya was born in
Ann Arbor, Michigan, and grew up in the
Silicon Valley area of
California as a capricious child with
Russian-
Agnostic/
Irish-Catholic professor parents (psychology and
Russian literature/math) and a younger sister. After finishing high school, Anya moved to Los Angeles as an aspiring actress. With stints in the British American Drama Academy (taught by
Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Anne Jackson and
Eli Wallach) and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, Anya has also acted in television and film (in
2001, she starred in the feature film,
100 Girls). She eventually moved back home to earn a college degree in English and writing at
Santa Clara University. She continued to struggle as an artist -- working in acting, musical theatre, music, improvisation and comedy -- but eventually found a job as a radio DJ on KSCU, Santa Clara University's college station.
Career
After graduating, Anya took a radio station job in San Diego with
Mike Halloran at
XHRM-FM. After the station was bought out by another corporation, Halloran hired Anya at
Y107 in Los Angeles before they both moved to
Premium Radio in San Diego's
North County. After leaving that station, both disc jockeys landed at FM 94/9.
It was in San Diego that Anya played her first open mic night and began to write her own songs. She quickly developed a live stage act using what she learned as an actress, comic and impressionist. Her recorded debut was a five-song EP called
Exercises in Racketeering
, which eventually led to a full-length album,
Miss Halfway
, which was released in early 2005. Anya subsequently opened for such artists as
Jason Mraz and
Rhett Miller. She was named one of the "Best Unsigned" acts by San Diego CityBeat.
The songs on
Miss Halfway
talk about her upbringing, ex-boyfriends and all the after-effects. Anya's album was also produced by Scott Russo, the frontman for rockers
Unwritten Law, along with Peter King from
The Surfers. The record eventually earned a San Diego Music Award for Best Recording. The title track also landed on
Grey's Anatomy
and was featured as the fifth song on the second
Grey's Anatomy (soundtrack) disc along with
The Fray,
KT Tunstall,
Gomez and
Snow Patrol.
On
January 20,
2009 Anya released her second album,
Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II
.
[1] The album which was produced by
Brian Karscig from
Louis XIV and Britt Daniel from
Spoon features a tightly honed collection of winking pop gems and slyly sexy rock and roll that showcases Anya’s deft melodic sensibility and wryly humorous lyrical point of view. The music video for the album's first single, "Move You", and was directed by
Scott Coffey. On
June 8,
2009 the video for "All The Same To Me", directed by
Josh Forbes premiered exclusively on .
In the summer of 2009 Anya was nominated for 3 San Diego Music Awards, including Artist Of The Year .
This summer Anya will be touring with
Eric Hutchinson and
Emiliana Torrini, and in the fall
Paolo Nutini.