Kina Grannis
(born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. She is of Japanese, English, Irish, French, Dutch, Welsh and Scottish descent [1].
Grannis was the winner of the Doritos Crash The Super Bowl
contest. [2] Her progress in the competition was covered in The Orange County Register
[3] and The Wall Street Journal
. [4]
Grannis' music can also be heard in the feature film Glass City
released spring 2008.
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KINA GRANNIS TICKETS
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Biography
Early life and career beginnings
Kina Grannis grew up in Mission Viejo, California. She was exposed to music at an early age. In elementary school, she composed and submitted simple piano compositions to district art competitions, and also began playing the violin in the school orchestra which she continued throughout high school. At age 16, she taught herself the guitar, which has become her primary instrument.
She attended Viejo Elementary School, Newhart Middle School, then attended
Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, CA from 1999 to 2003.
In 2003, Grannis matriculated at the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In 2005, she was selected by the University's Thornton School of Music to have a CD produced, utilizing the school's talents in the music and music industry departments. The CD, entitled
Sincerely, me.
, was released in 2005. In 2007, she graduated
Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Social Science with an emphasis on Psychology. While attending
USC, she was inducted as a member of
Phi Beta Kappa and
Phi Kappa Phi.
Solo career
In early 2007, she recorded a song for Rachael Lawrence and Deborah Ellen that would later be featured in an episode of
General Hospital
, entitled "Ours to Keep"
[5]. Grannis' recording of "Ours to Keep" has since been featured on
General Hospital
regularly as well as an episode of the ABC network's
Samurai Girl
in September 2008.
[6] In June 2009, her songs "Never Never" and "People" were used in episodes of MTV's reality series "College Life". Her song "Message from your Heart" was adopted by the philanthropic organization, Sister to Sister, as their 2009 theme song.
Grannis was to work with
Interscope Records to produce a new album, but publicly announced in January 2009 that she left the label to be an independent artist.
Personal life
Grannis has two sisters named Misa and Emi, both of whom have occasionally been featured on her videoblog.
Her father Gordon is a
chiropractor [7] and her mother Trish is a
graphic designer. An avid supporter of cancer research, Grannis has performed at several Southern California
Relay For Life functions over the years
[6]. In October 2008, she participated in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco in support of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, raising $6,000 for the organization.
Discography
Albums
#"Blindly"
#"Highlighted in Green"
#"Next Time"
#"Try"
#"Another Day"
#"People"
- One More In the Attic
(2006)
#"Living In Dreams"
#"Why Can't I?"
#"Never Never"
#"Some Days"
#"What Is Said"
#"In Theory"
#"Wandering and Wondering"
#"Running Away"
#"Missing You"
- In Memory of the Singing Bridge
(2006)
#"Walk On"
#"Down and Gone (the Blue Song)"
#"Too Soon"
#"Breathe Honesty"
#"Don't Cry"
#"Night"
#"!"
#"Memory"
#"Untitled"
Singles
- "Message From Your Heart"
- "Gotta Digg"
- "My Time with You"
- "Strong Enough"
Upcoming
A fourth, independently produced album, is due for release in the fall of 2009.
Notable media appearances
- On September 24, 2007, the song "Ours To Keep", written by Deborah Ellen and Rachel Lawrence and sung by Kina, debuted on the ABC soap opera General Hospital
as the theme song of characters Elizabeth and Jason, aka "Liason". [9] [10]
- On January 4, 2008, Kina's video Gotta Digg
was featured on the popular podcast Diggnation hosted by Digg founder Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. [11]
- On January 21, 2008, Kina was featured on Fox News
about her involvement in the Doritos contest. [12]
- On February 3, 2008, Doritos commissioned music video "Message From Your Heart" by Kina received 60 seconds of airtime during Super Bowl XLII, and was officially signed by Interscope Records.
- On February 4, 2008, a front page Yahoo article analyzing commercial advertisements aired during the Super Bowl mentioned Kina Grannis and the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl
Contest. [13]
- On February 5, 2008, Good Day L.A.
on Fox 11 featured a story about Kina's Crash the Super Bowl
experience. [14]
- On February 24, 2008, Kina sang the national anthem for the Auto Club 500 NASCAR race in Fontana, California.
References
- http://aarising.com/aprofiler/kinagrannis.htm
- Doritos Crash The Super Bowl Contest site
- OC Register article on Kina in Crash The Super Bowl
- Wall Street Journal article Published February 2, 2008
- http://www.kinagrannis.com/blog/2007/09/24/general-hospital/
- http://www.kinagrannis.com/about.php
- Gordon H. Grannis Chiropractic Clinic, Inc
- http://www.kinagrannis.com/about.php
- Ours to Keep debuts on General Hospital
- AmericaJR.com [ Jason & Elizabeth: Daytime's Next Super Couple ]
- Alcohol Free in the New Year — Diggnation — Revision3
- Kina Grannis on Fox News Los Angeles
- Supermodels and celebrities dominate Super Bowl ads - Yahoo! News{{Dead link|date=November 2008}}
- Kina Grannis on Fox11 Good Day LA