Artists > Liza and the Soul Stars

Critics around the country agree: Liza is a sensation. She entices the listener with her sensual voice, seduces the connoisseur with her smooth guitar licks, and ignites audiences everywhere with an incendiary stage presence. Performing her original songs with passion, Liza speaks to us with heartfelt wisdom, her lyrics a reflection of a soulful and insightful spirit.

Liza's curiosity in music developed as a child growing up in Savannah, Georgia. Her unquenchable desire to create pushed her to teach herself how to sing, write songs, and play piano and guitar. By the time she reached her teenage years, Liza was writing her own song collections and performing for school functions and local plays. In 1989, inspired by her passion for the outdoors, she moved to Telluride, Colorado, with hopes that life in a small mountain town would nurture her music. Within weeks she combined talents with Bill Nershi (now of The String Cheese Incident), forming a duo that garnered much local acclaim. The attention gained them a spot at the 1990 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where the thrill of playing for a massive crowd inspired Liza to pursue her music career full time.

The following year, Liza founded Telluride-based rock band Zuba. Her role as a solid guitar player and magnetic front-woman contributed to Zuba's quick success. They released four albums, selling more then 30,000 units on their own label, Cool Therapy Records. The band became a regional favorite and for eight straight years remained as a regular on the national touring circuit, even winning the Best Band on the Internet contest in 1998. Among the many fans impressed by her captivating performances was the popular Hollywood writing/directing duo, The Farrelley Brothers. They recruited Liza to play for and appear in their box office sensations Kingpin and There's Something About Mary. She found she loved working in film and went on to appear in Warren Miller's Snowriders, and Colorado ski comedies Scrapple, and Winter Break.

After Zuba disbanded in 1999, a more experienced and seasoned Liza took time to concentrate on her individual musical aspirations by writing a collection of new songs. This was a fresh direction with a focus on Liza as a singer/songwriter and a solo performer. In addition this solo project, Liza and Bill Nershi teamed up once again in 2001 and released a CD, It's About Time. Today she is the primary songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist for Liza and the Soul Stars. With members Erik Deutsch on keyboards, Brian McRae on drums, Aaron Snyder on bass, and Glenn Taylor on pedal steel, the band tours nationally, opening for such acts as Ben Harper, The String Cheese Incident, Spearhead, The Samples, Patty Griffin, and Loudon Wainwright. This past year and throughout her career Liza has performed on some of the country's top stages including Red Rocks, Alpine Valley, Deer Creek, and the Bill Graham Civic Center.