Biography
Exposure during her formative years to the music of Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, and Rickie Lee Jones helped shape April McLean's distinctive approach as an artist. Those influences prompted her to master the piano on her own, after which she began composing original material as an outlet for personal expression and a refuge from an unsupportive household. At age nineteen she enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music, seeking both further training and greater separation from family. While studying there alongside peers that included Paula Cole, McLean claimed several songwriting awards. Following graduation she relocated to Nashville, where she secured a two-year staff-writing position with Warner/Chappell Music and simultaneously honed her skills as a performer with a striking vocal presence. One of her compositions appeared on Susan Ashton's 1991 debut album Wakened by the Wind, produced by Grammy winner Wayne Kirkpatrick. In 2000 McLean contributed the track "Inside Out" to The Mercy Project, a benefit collection for at-risk girls that also included contributions from Amy Grant, Donna Summer, and Martina McBride. The following year she issued her own debut album independently; Becoming stands as an emotionally resonant and melodically assured statement that places its creator alongside Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, and Jonatha Brooke. Multiple selections from the record, among them the single-ready "Superhero," received airplay on the series Felicity.
Albums
