You might know Alicia Witt from her body of work as an actor on shows including Friday Night Lights, Law & Order and Cybill, and from the films 88 Minutes, Two Weeks Notice, Last Holiday and Mr Hollands Opusto name a few. But she is also a classically trained pianist and accomplished singer/songwriter. For the last 3 years, she’s been performing her original songs at venues across the country such as Hotel Cafe and Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles, and Joe’s Cafe and The Living Room in New York.Her self-titled first EP is out on iTunes. Alicia’s first music video, for the single ‘Anyway’, was played on MTVu and VH1.com. She has also appeared as musical guest on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and is currently working on her next album.
…what a voice. It comes from tender, intimate appeals, soaring to roof raising heights, as she all the while works the piano with ease and command…where Witt really excels is in her ballads, personal and universal poems of love, longing, and everyday girl issues. Her lyrics flow with a poetic polish, and her piano playing rivals that of rockers Billy Joel or Elton John.
- What Duvet Said, review, 12/09
in her own words
making music has been a dream of mine for as long as i can remember.i started playing the piano when i was 7. i studied classical music and competed heavily in national and international piano competitions for the next seven years. when i was 10, i started playing piano on weekends in a local restaurant in worcester, ma, to help pay for piano lessons. i was already really familiar with standards and show tunes from the ’30s and ’40s onward from listening to my favorite radio station that played them—nat ‘king’ cole; ella fitzgerald; glenn miller; frank sinatra; nancy wilson; and all the great tunes of george gershwin and cole porter — and i started learning a ton of pop music through sheet music books my dad would borrow from the library. i would often practice 4 hours a day… and loved it more than anything.
by the time i first moved to los angeles when i was 14, i knew i didn’t want to be a professional classical musician, but i still loved playing music. i continued to support myself as a pianist while i dove into the acting world… playing in the lobby lounge of the beverly wilshire hotel for 2 1/2 years to support myself, starting when i was 16 and ending when i got my first regular acting job (on the cbs show ‘cybill’). i became proficient at playing ‘misty’, ‘as time goes by’, ‘theme from doctor zhivago’, ‘claire de lune’ and ‘piano man’ to name a few of the myriad requests i would get on a regular basis. i remember loving the moment in each set when i would play ‘bridge over troubled water’ and how it meant something different to me each time i played it—and how lucky i felt to have a ‘day job’ where i could express myself musically instead of waiting tables as so many aspiring actors do.
i’ve always written songs but mostly performed them in my living room. often just for myself. over the years, as the dream burned deeper in me, i started to write more often and realized how much i wanted to do this somehow.
there have been some acting jobs that incorporated my music into them. shortly after i first moved to LA, i played piano over the end credits of an episode of “twin peaks,” and of the film “liebestraum,” both of which i had appeared in as an actor. i learned how to play the clarinet for “mr. holland’s opus.” my piano playing was written into the character i played on “cybill” in numerous episodes. when i was offered the film “playing mona lisa,” the character was written as a ballerina, but we changed her to a classical pianist instead. i also got the chance to play piano onstage, as a stammering agoraphobic british girl who could only express herself eloquently through playing classical piano, in terry johnson’s play “piano/forte” at the royal court theatre in london in 2006. and i sang (with randy newman!) in an all-musical episode of “ally mcbeal.”
but during all of this, what i wanted most of all, musically, was to write and perform my own songs.
and then, about 3 years ago, suddenly i couldn’t stop writing. and at the same time, out of the blue, i started to meet incredible, inspiring musicians and people who knew incredible, inspiring musicians everywhere i turned. it’s been the most amazing 3 years of my life so far.
my first gig was opening for the unbelievable jimmy webb at a benefit for the rainforest action network in new york. since then, i’ve been playing at venues such as hotel café in la and joe’s pub in nyc, and various other cities such as philly, boston and denver….and i’m about to play my first chicago show at evanston SPACE.
my self-titled first ep came out recently on iTunes and i’m currently recording new music. one of those new tracks, ‘me or new york’, was just released on iTunes as well. my first music video, for my song ‘anyway’, is out on youtube and has played on mtvU and vh1.com, and i also appeared on craig ferguson’s “late late show” on cbs as musical guest!
so finally my lifelong dream of getting to play my own songs in front of people is coming true, and i’m grateful beyond words.thank you for listening and for letting me share my music with you. it means the world to me.
about
in her own words
by the time i first moved to los angeles when i was 14, i knew i didn’t want to be a professional classical musician, but i still loved playing music. i continued to support myself as a pianist while i dove into the acting world… playing in the lobby lounge of the beverly wilshire hotel for 2 1/2 years to support myself, starting when i was 16 and ending when i got my first regular acting job (on the cbs show ‘cybill’). i became proficient at playing ‘misty’, ‘as time goes by’, ‘theme from doctor zhivago’, ‘claire de lune’ and ‘piano man’ to name a few of the myriad requests i would get on a regular basis. i remember loving the moment in each set when i would play ‘bridge over troubled water’ and how it meant something different to me each time i played it—and how lucky i felt to have a ‘day job’ where i could express myself musically instead of waiting tables as so many aspiring actors do.
i’ve always written songs but mostly performed them in my living room. often just for myself. over the years, as the dream burned deeper in me, i started to write more often and realized how much i wanted to do this somehow.
there have been some acting jobs that incorporated my music into them. shortly after i first moved to LA, i played piano over the end credits of an episode of “twin peaks,” and of the film “liebestraum,” both of which i had appeared in as an actor. i learned how to play the clarinet for “mr. holland’s opus.” my piano playing was written into the character i played on “cybill” in numerous episodes. when i was offered the film “playing mona lisa,” the character was written as a ballerina, but we changed her to a classical pianist instead. i also got the chance to play piano onstage, as a stammering agoraphobic british girl who could only express herself eloquently through playing classical piano, in terry johnson’s play “piano/forte” at the royal court theatre in london in 2006. and i sang (with randy newman!) in an all-musical episode of “ally mcbeal.”
but during all of this, what i wanted most of all, musically, was to write and perform my own songs.
and then, about 3 years ago, suddenly i couldn’t stop writing. and at the same time, out of the blue, i started to meet incredible, inspiring musicians and people who knew incredible, inspiring musicians everywhere i turned. it’s been the most amazing 3 years of my life so far.
my first gig was opening for the unbelievable jimmy webb at a benefit for the rainforest action network in new york. since then, i’ve been playing at venues such as hotel café in la and joe’s pub in nyc, and various other cities such as philly, boston and denver….and i’m about to play my first chicago show at evanston SPACE.
my self-titled first ep came out recently on iTunes and i’m currently recording new music. one of those new tracks, ‘me or new york’, was just released on iTunes as well. my first music video, for my song ‘anyway’, is out on youtube and has played on mtvU and vh1.com, and i also appeared on craig ferguson’s “late late show” on cbs as musical guest!
so finally my lifelong dream of getting to play my own songs in front of people is coming true, and i’m grateful beyond words.thank you for listening and for letting me share my music with you. it means the world to me.