Juliette Commagere

Juliette Commagere first gained notice in the Los Angeles area while fronting the local indie outfit Hello Stranger, whose sound favored classic indie-rock arrangements and prominent keytar lines, prior to launching her solo work in 2008. Growing up in Los Angeles with a father who played piano and a mother who sang ranchera, she encountered music constantly from childhood onward. Ry Cooder, father of her high-school boyfriend and later bandmate Joachim Cooder, also shaped her musical outlook. After several years performing with the younger Cooder in Hello Stranger—an ensemble whose songs earned the group an international tour supporting the Foo Fighters—Commagere decided to focus on her individual path. Her alto voice appeared on releases by Puscifer and Avenged Sevenfold, yet it was her first solo album, Queens Die Proudly, that drew the strongest attention. Issued in 2008, that record moved away from the guitar-driven material of her previous band toward rich orchestral textures and pop-art sonic environments.