Patti Rothberg

New York City native Patti Rothberg, a singer and songwriter by vocation, drew widespread notice upon releasing her first major-label effort, Between the 1 and 9, through EMI Records USA in 1996. Reviewers and listeners responded strongly to the candid, unvarnished character of both words and melodies. A versatile player of several instruments, Rothberg handled every bass and guitar line on that record herself, having first taken up the piano at age three. By fifteen she had moved on to creating original compositions and songs. Although she enrolled at the Parsons School of Design to study illustration, she kept performing informally, performing for passersby in the lower Manhattan subway system. After connecting with a manager she circulated a demo among various companies and ultimately joined EMI’s roster. The introspective, close-up tone of Between the 1 and 9—its title nodding to the very subway line where her street performances began—nonetheless reached a broad listenership. Its blend of blues, folk-rock, and alternative rock both echoed her formative tastes, among them the Allman Brothers and Janis Joplin, and appealed to programmers at adult-rock stations. Early success and support slots alongside Paul Westerberg, the Wallflowers, and Garbage suggested a rising trajectory, yet the shutdown of EMI’s American division abruptly left her without a contract. She kept writing and gigging for several years until an introduction to producer Freddie Katz enabled her to complete the follow-up album Candelabra Cadabra. That project appeared in early 2001, first offered solely through www.cropduster.com before reaching retail outlets later that spring.