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Carmel Helene \;grew up differently than most kids. \; Born in San Francisco\, her father was a black conga player for jazz great Cal Tjader and her mother was a white hippie who hung out at Haight and Ashbury. \; As a result\, Carmel&rsquo\;s musical influences ranged from Whitney Houston to Dolly Parton\, and from Willie Nelson to Pantera. \; \; She began her professional music career performing with hard rock\, top 40 and jazz bands. Yet she always had a love of country. &ldquo\;Country is in my soul&rdquo\;\, said Carmel.
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Broadening her repertoire\, Carmel started doing session work for national commercials and television\, including McDonald'\;s\, C.S.I.\, Jimmy Kimmel Live\, NBC Super Bowl\, BET Jazz\, Perrier and others. \; She has also contributed to a number of film recordings including "\;National Lampoon'\;s Gold Diggers"\;\, as well as co-writing and performing two songs in the TV movie "\;Christmas at Water'\;s Edge"\;. That led her to write\, record and produce her 2010 self- titled debut EP\, "\;Carmel Helene"\;. \;But it was rock\, not country and not what Carmel ultimately wanted.
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In 2013\, during a performance in Nashville\, Eliot Shatzman\, founder of independent record label Shatz Music Group\, took notice of Carmel&rsquo\;s powerful voice. \;Her guitar driven\, high-energy country style\, along with her exotic looks and rapport with the audience separated her from the crowd. Shatzman signed her immediately.
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Carmel Helene&rsquo\;s EP "\;New Frontier"\;\, produced by Jim Kimball (Reba McEntire\, Brad Paisley\, Toby Keith\, Faith Hill\, Garth Brooks\,) is available on iTunes.
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&ldquo\;Sharing my love of music with the world is my goal&rdquo\;\, says Carmel. \;&ldquo\;I like to combine my love of rock and country music to create a bit of an edge. I love writing stories and I want my songs to tell them. And believe me\, I have lots of stories to tell.&rdquo\;
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