"Tiffany Shea is musical sushi: raw, delectable, modern, and entertaining."

Go!Triad (winston-Salem, North Carolina)

"Tiffany Shea is hardly a gentle balladeer with a wounded heart. She sings with raw passion and throws down energetic shows of original alt-pop-rock. Shea is a cool jewel with an attitude..."

Fort Worth Star Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

"I watched as kids in their teens stood just inches from the stage hanging on to her every word...they were caught in a trance that she wove with her vibrant voice, animated facial expressions and intermittent sincere dialogue."

Live Show Review, North Carolina - www.strutteronthetown.com

"She's got a tight band and a strong voice on her own often angst-filled songs which lose neither power nor promise in translation."

Buddy Magazine (Texas)

"Her songs deliver universal themes in a pop-flavored package"

Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)

"Tiffany Shea puts the rock where it needs to go."

Creative Loafing (Atlanta, GA)

"The Tiffany Shea Band is like the little engine that could."

The Weekender (Boston, MA)

"She's a hoot. Shea played more than three hours of original music at her CD Release party, then she attended the Grammy Awards by creating a fake employee identification card, wearing a fake uniform, sneaking inside the convention center, then changing into a dress, and using another faked all-access pass. That kind of chutzpah, combined with obvious talent and stage presence, makes Shea a favorite of yours and ours."

FW Weekly (Fort Worth, Texas)

July 2009, North Carolina 

Tiffany Shea probably wrote her first song inside her mother’s womb. It seems as if just seconds after birth she had booked her first show. I’m pretty sure that she got her first standing ovation from the visitors looking at her in the hospital. You see, Tiffany is more than your flavor of the week artist. In an industry of manufactured artists, she is definitely a breath of fresh air. She has the personality to win over the most unruly crowd and the spunk and determination to make her dreams come true. 

Tiffany stormed through our area in 2004 with her band, who was touring nationally at the time. That was the coolest tour I’ve ever done, because for an artist, seeing that the audience is really listening, absorbing each song like a refreshing drink of water is just completely rewarding. That’s what those shows were like; my band was amazing and we were excited about our record, it was our first national tour, and the crowd loved it—so it was just an all-around awesome experience, said Tiffany in a phone interview we recently conducted.

When an artist strips their music down and goes acoustic, it really exposes them to the audience. Not all artists can pull it off because it makes them so vulnerable. This is when true talent shines; and oh my, does Tiffany shine! She absolutely beams on stage. She has such a charismatic personality that even before she sings, you can’t help but be intrigued. Everything from her smile to her infectious laugh just grabs you. Her 2009 solo tour set is full of many power numbers from her current album, “Phoenix (II)” and even a few that she has not even recorded yet. You might be lucky enough for her to close the show with a moving cover of Trent Reznor's “Hurt” that gives me goose bumps, and I’ve noticed it moves others to tears. She was inspired to cover the song after by moved by the video rendition of the song, covered by Johnny Cash. 

Tiffany is not a stranger to the music scene. She has been performing since 1997, first solo and then with her band in November of that same year. She has released an amazing 13, yes 13, CDs in that amount of time, and is scheduling the release of her 14^th album in September. I think the only artist to put out more CDs on that time frame would be Tupac, but he doesn’t count since he’s not touring anymore. 

She was born into a musical family; her dad a drummer and her mom a piano teacher and church musician.  Tiffany began singing in church when she was young and later got involved in Community Theater. When I was 19 years old, I went to see Sister 7, a powerful passion/funk/rock/soul band out of Austin, Texas. From the minute that I saw them perform, I KNEW that was what I wanted to do with my life. It’s interesting-- Patrice Pike was the lead singer of that band. Now she and I are touring together this summer. Patrice was a finalist on the CBS show “Rock Star: Supernova” with Tommy Lee a couple of years ago, and was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame this year. She totally rocks, and I think when you watch her perform, you’ll see and hear the kind of influence her music has been in what I’ve done!

Tiffany’s sound, both vocally and musically is very unique. Imagine taking the over-the-top personality of Cyndi Lauper, adding the powerful melodic rock of Pat Benatar, then a touch of the ghostly Tori Amos sound and sprinkling in some Ani DiFranco attitude, then putting them all in a blender and processing them. Now you have an idea of what this woman is capable of. If someone were deaf and she had to paint a canvas to describe her sound to them, how would she do it? Wow, that’s an amazing question. Well, you know I love to paint. I think all of my art is an extension of who I am. I think the canvas would have lots of bold colors and it would be multimedia with tons of textures so that they could touch it and feel all the different movement and energies. It would be abstract yet evoking a feeling that’s universal at the same time. My music is raw, human emotion. I think I capture that where it’s not so cryptic or so black and white that it’s boring. I can say for certain, that ‘boring’ is one word that has never been used to describe this young lady.  

The music industry has been in such turmoil the last few years and yet Tiffany is determined to keep marching on just as she has done for over ten years now. I was curious as to what keeps her going? I have been doing this since 1997. I have been on my own for all but two of my CD releases, which were on independent labels. In the summer of 2005, I had a major career letdown and I crashed emotionally really hard. I was just burnt out! I mean, I had been doing all of this by myself; booking my own shows, did most of my own graphic design, funding my CDs and band travel, it just got to be too much. So I walked away from it and tried to figure out what else I wanted to do. I tried working in an office and quickly found out that wasn’t gonna work for me. I went to audio engineering school and I constantly found myself wanting to be on the 'other' side of the glass. I went to art school and was constantly creating visual art about music. No matter how much I wanted to quit the business, songs kept coming into my head and I had to get them out, and record and produce them.  It’s then that I figured out that music is not what I do, it’s who I am. It’s my gift-- from somewhere or some ‘One’ else-- and therefore I have to be diligent with it.

Her 2003 release “Phoenix” garnered her praise from all over and numerous music awards. What was it about that CD that registered with people? I think it was the first album that really captured the sound and the feeling of the music inside of me, and my band guys that recorded it with me were and are phenomenal. We worked with a wonderful co-producer/engineer which also made a big difference. It was also super high quality audio and packaging. We really took our time and made sure we did it right. The power of the music on that CD really did shine. Actually we just re-released a new version called ‘Phoenix II’ this year. It’s been re-mixed and edited. There are a few songs that were left off from the original release and some new stuff added. It’s like ‘Phoenix’ on steroids!

On a personal note, do you have any guilty pleasures that you can share with your fans. Well, as long as they are printable? Ha! If they’re not printable, I think I will keep those to myself. I guess my one big one right now would be chocolate chip ice cream....I sure am glad you didn’t ask me that question a few years ago!

 One more question as a more fun one for your fans. I always ask this of everyone I interview: If you were trapped on a desert island and could only have one store-bought CD, what would you want to have with you? Oh that’s easy; it would have to be U2 ‘The Joshua Tree’, without a doubt. My other favorites would have to be Tori Amos ‘From the Choirgirl Hotel’ or Heart’s ‘Greatest Hits’, Sting's ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales or Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana'.

Tiffany Shea is a little dynamo whose shows are always magical evenings full of emotional and powerful music. She is a talented performer who has chiseled out a special place in our hearts. I encourage everyone to come down and see her show and send her some love in return - you will not be disappointed.

The artists' websites are www.tiffanyshea.com and www.patricepike.com .

-John Price