By Raven, Rock At Night Tampa-Columnist
THE RAVEN’S NEST COLUMN
I am Very Excited to Feature & Interview Singer/Songwriter/Musician SABRINA PETRINI, As seen on MTV, VH1 and LOGO TV with her music video “U MAKE ME (LOL)” and performance at the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS 2010 is all about the DIY.
Sabrina Petrini’s journey as a performer started in Helsingborg, Sweden where she owned and ran a dance school at the age of 16. During that time she attended the theatre high school and performed her original music in different talent competitions and festivals around Europe. She managed to write, direct and produce a musical by the time she was 19 and had a rock band under her name together with her brother Donatello Petrini. She moved to London in 2007 and earned a degree in vocals and production at the London Center of Contemporary Music college. Later on she moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and earned another degree in vocals and performance at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood.
Los Angeles became her home. One of her first shows was at a packed House Of Blues at the Sunset strip. A month after that she signed a record deal and began the recording with B.A.M and UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP. Her success continued by having the music video for her song “U MAKE ME (LOL)” airing on MTV, VH1 and LOGO TV. She got nominated for best pop artist at LA MUSIC Awards and best pop song at HMMA Awards. Her first album release show was at Palladium in Hollywood for 4.000 people but that was nothing compared to the biggest performance of her life, the AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS 2010.
It was after meeting and working with Kim Fowley (Joan Jett, GNR) and Noizee (Marky Ramone) at the end of 2011 that inspired Sabrina to become an independent artist. She left her record deal and manager to DIY and shortly ended up back in the studio experimenting with melodic European and edgy American sounds. She got a band together and named it KingQueen after her artist name that she had used with the record label when she was signed. She started co writing with her guitar player Dario Comuzzi. Rehearsals turned into songs and songs turned into their album “GET LOUD”. They recorded the album on to a tape machine in a little studio in Norco, CA and the music was mixed and mastered in Italy by Frank Nemola (Vasco Rossi). It’s available on iTunes and Spotify. 2013, KingQueen won LA’s Hard Rock Rising battle of the bands, (ended up in the finals, top 10 of the world wide battle out of 22,000 bands) and performed at Universal City Walk. Besides touring the U.S and opening for Steel Panther, KingQueen continuously played and packed many legendary venues around Los Angeles, CA such as House Of Blues, Whiskey a Go Go, Viper Room and The Roxy. They also got two nominations for best pop and rock song with “Rockstar” and “Chemically Imbalanced” at HMMA Awards.
In 2014 Sabrina Petrini locked endorsement deals with her favorite companies Mogami Cables and Audio Technica and became an artist at Roland US. She also became a voting member of the Grammy Academy and started collaborating with italian DJ/Producer Dechard. Their first single “Fucking In Love” was released February 2015 and had 22,103 hits after less than a week on SoundCloud. She became a VEVO artist and released a music video for “Fucking In Love” early May which also got a nomination for best pop at HMMA Awards.
Sabrina’s and Dechard’s second single “Fade Away” won an Akademia Award in September 2015 for best dance/pop. “Fade Away” is also in the ad for Martian Watches music control. Both “Fucking In Love” and “Fade Away” got picked up as soundtracks for the upcoming movie “Love Is All You Need” directed by Rocco Shields and based on the award winning short which was released in 2011.
Sabrina is currently in the studio with producer Gabe Lopez (James Brown, Belinda Carlisle, Universal), K.Chozen (Big Sean, Katy Perry) and Monkey Buisness Production and Dechard. Releasing this EP her audience can expect a focus on Sabrina’s strong and edgy vocals taking a pop/electronic/urban direction and it’s coming out at the beginning of 2016.
Hi, Sabrina, When did you first start singing?
I first started singing when I was a kid but it was related to writing songs which I didn’t even know I was doing. I was just expressing myself. But I started officially singing when I was about 14.
What did your family do to encourage you?
I think the best encouragement was that they never babied me. They supported me but they didn’t push me. I had to do it myself. I had to stay motivated and they never treated me like a little princess. I remember being at competitions and all these parents combing their kids hair and stuff and my mom was just like “did you bring your water?”. It’s the best encouragement ever. My parents were always by my side but they let me run the show.
Does anyone else in your family sing?
No. Not that I know of. Haha
Who are your musical inspirations?
Guns N’ Roses, Joan Jett, Michael Jackson and The Sounds are what I got inspired by growing up. Now it’s more personalities more than the genre of music. I get inspired by hard working people. And athletes! Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
What kind of music do you listen to today?
Top 40 to get in a mood and old school when I wanna’ get deep.
What embarrassing songs might I find on your MP3 player?
There are no embarrassing songs.
Where would you most like to perform?
Wembley Stadium.
Who would you most like to open for?
Rihanna, The Weeknd or actually I would wanna’ just tour some festivals and play around with a bunch of different artists, like iHeart Radio Music Festival.
If you weren’t singing, what would you be doing?
Intelligence analyst. Working for Interpol.
Do you play any instruments?
Piano and basic knowledge with the rest.
If you could dabble in another genre of music, what would it be?
I do that all the time. Heck I’ve been in a rock band, been a pop star and now, I don’t know, I’m just all of the above.
What hidden talents do you have?
Everything I do I expose and with time I will develop more. I love growing and discovering.
Sabrina, what advice would you give young Singer/Songwriters that want to break into the Music Industry?
The biggest issue most young artists have is with the time. They think if they don’t “make it” before 25 life is over. Stop obsessing over that! Do music for the right reason and never give up. This gift has no expiration date. If you’re good, you’re good and keep practicing your gift and build your machine. If you’re an artist, your work will never be finished anyways.
Last Question Sabrina, how do you feel about this guy Raven promoting you…lol, Kidding but you can answer if you like?
Raven is awesome because he supports any kind of music as long as you are a hard worker he will give you his support. Thank you!
I want to Thank Miss Sabrina for taking time to chat with me, Don’t forget to check her out. Thank You to Rock At Night see you next time in the Ravens Nest.
Peace & Love,
Raven Pihonak
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoiNFHzfrvk
I'm Ravyn, Musicologist and maker of peace. I love Music and writing about all the Great Artist that are out there, A HUGE Thank You and Much Respect to Chyrisse for giving me the opportunity to write for a great music magazine that is ROCK AT NIGHT.
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