Singer-songwriter Aliya Marie has been involved in music for much of her life. Surprisingly, though, the record she's planning to record and release will be the first she's ever made on her own.  It's an important one for her – she's setting herself apart from her pop-rock outfit The Gajillionaires (a duo she formed with fellow Songwriting School student Miranda Zeiger), and focusing on being herself.   "It's different," Aliya says, "because we created a persona that was 'The Gajillionaires,' whereas, the persona of my album is the organic personal one that I have most days. Except for the days…

On June 18th 2012, Miranda Zeiger and Aliya Hashemi hopped a plane to Seattle. Unlike the other passengers, though, they weren't just there to visit the Emerald City (also Aliya's hometown), but to play live at 35,000 feet in the air. They'd won the Southwest Airlines 41st birthday jingle contest, and the midflight performance, a rare opportunity to the say the least, was their prize. Aliya and Miranda, known collectively as The Gajillionaires, have been crafting their unique brand of lively pop rock nearly since they found each other in The Songwriter's Workshop, a gathering of experienced writers meeting weekly…

Listening to the powerful melodic stylings of this week’s featured student, it is hard to believe that she could have ever considered herself anything but a natural-born artist – yet singer/songwriter and San Diego native Alisha Zalkin was in just that position once. “I always knew performing was for me, but I certainly had my doubts about whether I could really ‘make it,’” says Alisha.  “For a good part of my life I played it safe and became a yoga instructor, teaching all over NYC.  It finally came to a point where I was incredibly unhappy because I was living…

In high school, one is often labeled a “science nerd” or a “band geek."  At first glance the two disciplines seem impossibly different: one deals in facts, numbers and percentages, the other in sounds, feelings, and fancy. For most, the yawning disparity between the left side of the brain and the right is just too wide to resolve. Yet that’s just what singer-songwriter and engineer McKinley does for a living, as well as hosting the History Channel’s mystery investigation series Decoded. Case in point: a couple years ago she penned the musical Gracie and the Atom, an album of gorgeous…

Mat Koehler turned to songwriting when his career as a TV writer took an unexpected plot twist.  Now he makes his living with music--as a songwriter, performer, and as the owner of Holy Grail Guitars, a boutique service providing hard-to-find guitars for players who need them.  This winter he won the full Scholarship to The Durango Songwriter's Expo for his breath-taking song "Juliana."  Making music your life:  there's a chorus we can all appreciate.

A talented actress who always privately yearned to sing her own songs, Julie Mintz made the leap to full-time singer/songwriter in 2011 on the heels of performances at South By Southwest in her native Texas.  She worked at her craft at The Songwriting School in classes like THE ROOTS, Guitar for Songwriters, Writing Songs for the Marketplace, and as a longtime member of the advanced Songwriter's Workshop.  

From The Songwriting School of Los Angeles to the VMAs in NYC to a UK Tour...

Signed to System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian's label Serjical Strike Records, The Cause songwriter and lead vocalist Gerard Bozoghlian cares deeply about songwriting.  The son of Armenian heritage, he came to Los Angeles by way of Argentina.  His rich, complex rock recipe blends Armenian and Argentine elements with traces of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Sting.  Although already a signed artist, Gerard's hunger to create and grow led him to take the foundational course for songwriting, THE ROOTS, a class developed and taught by songwriter/producer Rob Seals at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles. “I needed this!"…