Most parents remember their child’s first words. But with Julia, her parents remember the first song she sang. With only a few words under her belt, Julia listened to “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor. It was only her first time hearing the song but by the time the final chorus played, Julia sat up in her car seat and sang along, the melody ingrained in her mind, the words memorized like a true pro. She wasn’t even two years old.
The Upstate New York native was always thinking like a musician, putting on shows at department stores for strangers, writing lyrics on the sidewalk with chalk, and gathering the neighborhood kids together to perform self-written musicals for an audience of parents, neighbors, and the mailman. When her mother’s friend inherited a piano, she passed it along to Julia thinking the two might connect. It was love. Real love. Julia stared at the black and white keys for hours before she sat down and taught herself how to play.
But Julia was also an internationally competitive gymnast, so as her training schedule became more and more demanding, songwriting took a backseat to her rigorous lifestyle. Julia made the transition from gymnastics to springboard diving by her junior year of high school. Several years later, she took her athletic career to the next level when she joined the University of Miami’s Division I diving team, where her teammates were either prior Olympians or were training to compete in the upcoming Trials. Unfortunately a re-occurring back injury forced Julia to make a tough decision at the end of her sophomore year, and she chose to walk away from the sport for good.
Following her graduation with a dual degree in Broadcast Journalism and Creative Writing, Julia started an internship at Good Morning America in Times Square, NYC. Her plan was to work there for a few years before starting her life as a news reporter. Yet plans changed when Julia got a call from a college friend who was on tour with his band. He said he remembered hearing her perform in Miami, and then asked her to open for his band at their Bitter End show in New York. She agreed, and the night she took the stage changed everything. She quickly realized that this was what she wanted to do: the stage just felt like home.
Soon after that, former GMA anchor Chris Cuomo discovered Julia’s talent and brought her on the show as a musical artist to watch. He encouraged her to drop what was now her “Plan B” reporting career, saying that music was a full time job and that if she was serious about it, she shouldn’t hold back.
Julia left GMA and became a regular on the New York City singer/songwriter circuit. She toured the country, playing in venues from Hotel Café in Los Angeles to World Café Live in Philadelphia. After her first tour came to a close, Julia started recording her first EP. The first single on the EP, 'Girlfriend' is now available on iTunes! Her style is similar to Regina Spektor, Carly Simon, and Sara Bareilles; her voice is pure with a touch of rasp and her honest lyrics are both witty and heartfelt. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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