“Live Simply, Love Extravagantly.”
- Miriam Pico
WHERE MIRIAM CAN BE SEEN PERFORMING:
Miriam Pico and accompanist Al Jankowski can be seen performing EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT at Phil’s on Front, across from the State Theatre, Front St., Traverse City. 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. All cover tunes! No cover charge. Additional gig information in the “GIG” section.
Miriam enjoys performing her original music with her brother, professional drummer, Cris Pico.
He can be heard playing drums and percussion on Miriam’s album “City Dreams” as well as her forthcoming album “I Am Myself”. Cris is credited with being one of the major catalysts for Miriam recognizing her potential as a singer.
You can also find Miriam performing as lead vocalist for wedding receptions, cocktail hours and other events with Al Jankowski as well as with David Chown/The Lookout Cats, Jeff Cobb’s band Mystique and from time to time she can be seen with the Bay Area Big Band, lead by Chris Bickley.
Miriam serves as Worship Coordinator at Bay Pointe Community Church (www.bponline.org) and she can be seen singing and leading worship there once a month. She also leads the music at the Catholic Spanish Mass at Immaculate Conception Church. (5:00 p.m. on Sundays.)
Musician With a Mission: “Sing For Their Supper” is a non-profit coalition of gifted artists who use their talents to help the needy by collecting pantry donations at all of their appearances. It was founded by Miriam in January 2009 and she has collected hundreds of donations at her shows since then. Miriam is an advocate for Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (www.cfca.org) an organization through which she and her family sponsor a young man in Bolivia and an elderly woman in Colombia.
Miriam Pico’s songs and voice have been described in many different ways:
“If you were to combine Norah Jones, Jewel, Sheryl Crow and Joss Stone, Miriam Picó would be the result. Soulful, playful, balanced….Miriam is the singer of which I will be able to say, ‘I knew her when…..’” —Jake Kaberle, Boones Long Lake Inn Manager
“Mo-Town meets Jewel”
“The varied pieces on Miriam’s debut album, City Dreams, are candid…oozing with insight, soul, and empathy. It is a riveting collection of original work…I like to sit and listen to the whole album while holding the lyrics booklet and following along. Each time through I’m more astounded at the accuracy with which the songs are written for both poetry and melody. Outstanding!” —Janine Winkler, Musician and Fan
“You can’t stop listening.”
“As a bit of music critic and a huge music fan in Northern Michigan I can’t help but acknowledge the extraordinary talent of our own Miriam Picó. This young recording artist has an authentic musical style and a silky smooth voice that will literally sends chills down your spine. Her presence on stage is very engaging and her original material reveals the passion and spirit of a true artist. If I were to mix her sound up in a blender I would throw in some Jewel, Vanessa Carlton and Sarah MacLachlan in the recipe. She is as good as or better than any national act out there. Her debut c.d. “City Dreams” is a superb first effort. Track number 14, called “Life Without You” has a Latin flavor and a vocal performance that is simply amazing. Track number 3 “Tangled”, has a very commercial pop feel and sounds like a hit to me. The lyrical content on this disc, and the way she delivers a song with true emotion, separates Miriam from your average artist. Miriam Picó deserves a shot at the big stage and although I don’t know her very well it is obvious to me that she is not only a world class artist but she is a world class individual.” — Mark Waggener
“Very melodic, beautiful.”
More About Miriam:
Born: May 14, 1983 in Aibonito, Puerto Rico
School: Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools, Traverse City, Michigan - Graduated in 2001
Musical history: “I have been singing for as long as I can remember. I come from one of those families that like to put on shows, sing songs and dance whenever we get together. Music is in my blood. My sister, Gladys, and I would sneak into Immaculate Conception church when it was dark and we’d sing our guts out to all our favorite hymns. I also remember when my sister, Maria, and I would roll down the windows in the car and sing/scream silly songs like The National Anthem and I Will Survive, at the top of our lungs. My aunt Rosi started teaching me how to play the guitar when I was in elementary school, and I played the clarinet for a year and a half in the school band. But unfortunately, I lost interest in the instruments as soon as I started singing professionally. When I was eleven years old I became the cantor at my church, Immaculate Conception. (The cantor is the person that stands in front of the church and leads the whole assembly in song.) It wasn’t long after I started that people began asking me to sing at their weddings and at their grandparents’ funerals, which I always felt extremely honored to do.
Throughout my middle school days, my favorite source of entertainment was my handed-down tape player, which I used to listen and sing along to Whitney Houston, over and over. I had been writing little songs and poems from the moment I learned how to write, but I was ten years old when I began writing full songs, and recording them on that same tape recorder. No one knew about these songs, not even my own family. I was so shy, and so terrified that someone would laugh at me, that I would wait until everyone was gone to really belt it out. But the older I got the more I wanted to sing, and after a while, no one could shut me up. If I wasn’t singing, it’s because I was sleeping. I was still shy about my songwriting, though, and the first original song I ever performed live was a lullaby I wrote for my two baby nephews, Josh and Vinny, called “Always Be Near”. I had already graduated from high school. But just like with anything else, the more you do it the easier it gets, and now, I have times where I literally feel more comfortable onstage than anywhere else.
Besides making friends, writing songs is pretty much all I did in high school. Anyone who is a songwriter will probably tell you that a good hook pops into your head at the least convenient moment, and when it does, it’s near impossible to ignore. So if a song idea came to me in the middle of math class, I would feel this urge to get it all down on paper, and sometimes it would take up the whole class time to do it. Needless to say, that’s one of the reasons I’m not very good at math these days. I took some formal singing lessons for long enough to learn helpful breathing techniques and warm-up exercises, but I found that I would quickly lose my love for singing whenever I would take these voice lessons. So I quit them and fell back in love with singing again.
During my senior year, I became involved in the Old Town Playhouse, Traverse City’s local community theatre. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in my life, because that is where I met my husband! My first performance there was when I was seventeen, I played Rosalia in “West Side Story” and Josh was the older brother of my good friend and cast-member, Alicia Benghauser. I have since performed in Two by Two (as Rachel) and in many many Black and White Gala fundraiser shows. I owe so much to the Old Town Playhouse, for getting me into the spotlight, challenging me vocally and teaching me pretty much all I know about stage-presence, improvisation, loyalty and friendship.
After graduation, I decided to spend a couple of months in Puerto Rico, instead of going the usual college-route. I am SO glad I did! While I was there, I found myself surrounded by many musical people…the whole island seems to be singing and dancing all the time! It inspired me to learn the guitar again. Once I started putting chords together, the creative juices started to flow and my songwriting really took off. My brother, Cris, and my husband, Josh, encouraged me to “get out there and play,” even though I still had a lot of shyness to overcome. I began playing at Open Mic nights with my brother Cris on the drums. The overwhelming support and interest expressed by the other musicians I met encouraged me to come out with an album of originals. I have written over 300 songs and fourteen of them are on City Dreams. I am working on the follow up CD of originals called “I Am Myself”. I believe that music is a gift that comes from God, and I also believe that I’ve been given this gift in order to help people. We ALL have been given a gift for the same purpose, and I can’t even begin to name all the people who have helped ME and my loved ones out when we’ve needed it. We are all connected. The fact that music and singing have always come naturally to me, without any formal training, reinforces my belief that it is a gift, not a talent. So I consider myself a “musician with a mission” and the mission is to use my voice to make a difference in the lives of others who need a hand. Whenever I feel jaded about singing, and need some motivation to peel myself away from my kids and get myself to a gig, I just think of the people who will use the pantry donations I will collect at the show, and I remember why I do what I do. Having a mission fueling my music has made me a better musician, and hopefully, a better person.”
Married: May 15, 2004 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Suttons Bay, Michigan.
Family: Husband, Josh. Daughter, Luna Sofia (born in ‘07) and Gideon Milo (born at home in ‘09)
Two dogs, Simon and Lola.
Favorite Artists: Eva Cassidy, The Indigo Girls, Ella Fitzgerald, Jack Johnson, KT Tunstall, Juanes, Jim Croce, Alejandro Sanz, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, The Beatles (of course), Dolly Parton, John Mayer, Carlos Vives, Cat Stevens, Norah Jones, Damien Rice, Bright Eyes, Buika, Rosario, Jorge Drexler, Michael Buble, Celia Cruz, Hillsong United, Brooke Fraser….the list goes on and on….
Favorite Movies: Life is Beautiful, Once, The Business of Being Born, The Notebook, Fiddler on the Roof, Some Like it Hot…almost every musical ever made….most classic movies….I am a huge movie fan.
Favorite Thing to Do When Not Singing: Relaxing and doing NOTHING with my family…just snuggling, wrestling, laughing, being silly, cooking… Being lazy with the people I love is the absolute best thing in the world. I love learning, especially about anything that is going to make me a better mom. I do the whole “attachment parenting” thing with my kids; home-birth, co-sleeping with my kids, baby-wearing, cloth diapers, homeschooling, positive discipline, etc. and I love learning more about anything parenting related. In my “spare time” I serve as a childbirth doula and a very passionate supporter of homebirth midwifery.
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