Artists
MARIKA
Canadian Pop Recording Artist MARIKA has a passion to encourage, inspire and influence others through music. She has worked with top North American internationally acclaimed producers famous for their work with The Backstreet Boys, High School Musical, Jesse McCartney, Stacie Orrico, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Rowland and Canadian artists Hedley and Elise Estrada. MARIKA has also co-written numerous hit singles for some of the top international recording artists that have been released worldwide.
RADIO:
MARIKA's newest single SOLDIER has just been released to Canadian Radio!
MARIKA’s radio released singles " You Know I Will " and “ RADIO “ played on all the major hit radio stations across Canada landing in top 19 and 20 spots Internationally and Top 5 spots Canadian. In addition to all of this success MARIKA was also recognized in nominations for the Canadian Radio Music awards as Best New Artist in the urban category, her first independent album “Untitled Chances ” received nominations at Canada's Covenant Awards and MARIKA was honored as the winner of the Women of Excellence Award in arts and culture in her own community.
TELEVISION:
MARIKA's music has been featured in numerous television series and networks including TSN, MTV, several seasons of "America's Next Top Model" (FOX/UPN), as well as her own personal performances on various shows like Miss Washington USA and Miss Washington Teen USA, 100 Huntley Street, The Daily with Mark and Laura Lynn, an emmy award winning NBC primetime Christmas special, and the Macy’s holiday celebration.
GRACE SNG
LET LOVE FIND YOU is the debut single from Vancouver artist Grace Sng (pronounced "sung"). Co-written and produced with Canadian recording artist and songwriter MARIKA and the MACH 1 MUSIC production team who collectively have written for the likes of Jordan McKnight, Jesse McCartney, Backstreet Boys, High School Musical and much more.
Growing up in Malaysia and England, Grace was expected by society and parents to pursue a career in conventional professions such as medicine, accountancy or law. For Grace, it was quite a challenge to hold on to aspirations such as singing and songwriting. She reluctantly chose the route of Accounting and Finance at Warwick University in the UK but soon found out that she was walking in a path very different from her true dreams and desires of being a recording artist.
After much soul searching, Grace packed her bags and moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she studied music and continued developing her musicianship and songwriting. From there, Grace had the opportunity to be part of two Cross-Canada and US tours which gained her experience in both performance and touring. Also, from traveling the globe she continues to build a fan base in Canada and worldwide, and she has performed in several other languages including French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Malay.
Grace is a skilled songwriter, a self taught guitarist as well as a classically trained pianist who fuses her training with her stylistic influences like Alanis Morrisette and Jewel to create an edgy sound with great melodies. Three of her songs recently made it as finalist and double semi-finalists in the 2011 UK Songwriting Contest for the Pop, Adult Contemporary and Faith/Gospel categories. Grace's 3-song EP is available on iTunes & other digital stores online, while she continues to work on completing her upcoming debut album.
LAURA HASTINGS
Prairie-born singer-songwriter Laura Hastings has lived and breathed music from the tender age of 4 when her parents put her in piano lessons after she played the Sesame Street theme song by ear on the piano. Several years of lessons, festivals, musicals, plays, and performances later and Laura is on the brink of releasing her second album and finishing a Bachelor’s Degree in Music at Trinity Western University. Her newest album, ‘Perfect Stranger’, is a four song EP that showcases songs about new love, lost love, and hope.
Laura’s style of music is admittedly difficult to describe. Her influences range from artists such as Vanessa Carlton, Rachael Yamagata, Feist, Paramore, Evanescense, Norah Jones, and Sarah McLachlan. Her lyrics often reflect themes of love, perseverance, heartache, and hope. Most of her pieces start at the piano and take off from there with instruments such as Rhodes, drums, violin, cello, and other atmospheric sounds. Writing music is not just a way of life for Laura; it’s a way to vent what consumes her mind and what wells up in her heart.
In her early music development, she studied piano and voice through the Royal Conservatory of Music. After many local and provincial festivals and competitions, the budding songstress won a recording package valued at $2,000 that she used to fuel her first album entitled Butterfly, which was released in 2006. Wanting to pursue music further, Laura began a degree in Music at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. Being exposed to many different methods, genres, and musicians in the Lower Mainland has broadened her influences and challenged her songwriting.
The future of music looks like another degree, this time in Music Therapy at Capilano University, which Laura wishes to use to help more people through the powerful tool of music. She is looking forward to the future of her career in songwriting, performing, recording, and creating music that means something to people. Stay updated at www.myspace.com/laurahastings or at Laura’s Facebook Fan Page for all of her upcoming shows and for details on all her latest projects.
Laura most recently signed a management and artist development deal with Vancouver company Emerton Records Inc. headed by Canadian Pop recording artist MARIKA. MARIKA has performed globally, worked with some of the best producers in the business and is an international songwriter, who has written for some of the top acts in the world. Through this partnership and the networks involved Laura will be able to launch her career globally and also expand her songwriting skills. The future looks bright for this young artist with incredible talent!
