Birthdate: July 23, 1973 Birth Location: Chicago, IL, USA Measurements: 33" 26" 34" Height 4'11" (150cm) Weight 105lbs (47.6kg) Eye color: Brown Hair color: Black Ethnicity: Japanese, German-Irish |
I'm a horror author best known for writing and releasing the first free vampire audio novel on the internet, 2004's Forever Fifteen.
<How I record
I produce all my music on my own using Reason (my favorite software synth ever!) and ProTools as a DAW. Then extra "real" instruments go in, for instance guitar or cello. I cannot play cello, so the cello you hear on Track 10 (Life is Strange) and Track 13 (The Courtesan Said Farewell) are not by me! They are by Ethan Meyer from the cellofun forums. I do have a cello but playing it in public isn't an option--because I'm terrible at cello! The last layer to be added to my recording is always vocals. I usually add a lot of vocal layers to a track, sometimes dozens. I used to sing in my local & school choirs which helped me to learn about how to harmonize. My vocal range is from E3 (the E above Middle C) to about 4 octaves above (E7). You can hear the lowest part of my vocal range in Dream of Flight's Impossible (Track 11) and the highest in Dream of Flight's Epilogue: the Forest of Dreams (Track 14).
Beginning of QUEENIE
When I started out as Queenie in 2002, I came out with a (badly) home-recorded CD that achieved modest popularity on MP3.com. It was an exciting time because the traditional music industry was starting to falter and give way to the rise of the independent artist. Nobody had any idea that the whole major label system would crash down like it did! It used to be impossible for indies with obscure styles like mine to be heard: nowadays indies are everywhere. Even with my small contribution to indie music, I was and am thrilled to be one of those who had not "signed away" my artistic integrity to a label deal!! Every day I am exceedingly thankful for the technology that enables me to create high-quality recordings without having to embed myself within the old music industry system!!
CD Baby
I joined CD Baby sometime in 2001 because it was a very different type of service. I released my QUEENIE album with them. Ever since then, CD Baby.com always seemed to be at the forefront of the revolution: honestly, they still are the only game in town as far as getting an album digitally and physically distributed. As far as record industry people, they always seemed to be scary/creepy or to only want money when I was dealing with them. My experience with the CD Babies has always been the complete opposite: they are cool, normal people and no, they are not paying me to say that! I've encouraged other artists to spend the measly $60 or so they ask for full album distribution like my friend Ken Karlson--seriously, if you're an indie artist, just go for it. $60 used to be a lot of money (like back in 1982!), but these days it's not worth quite as much, is it!?
The QUEENIE CD did extremely well for an indie release, topping
charts at Soundclick.com, BeSonic.com, and was even featured multiple
times on the index page of FranceMP3.com. I was flirted with rather
heavily by some unpleasant record-industry people, but (thankfully) nothing came of
it.
2004 Forever Fifteen
In later years, I found myself stranded in an old house in a small town. There was no computer, so I alleviated my terrible angst (no computers?? NOOOOOO!!) by writing a story in longhand that occured to me in a recurring dream. One year later, I would release that story as a 34 chapter audio novel called Forever Fifteen. The success of Forever Fifteen overtook QUEENIE's debut, so I focused upon it for awhile releasing multiple formats of the book. Writing Forever Fifteen made me burn to write more fiction, but time constraints have remained the number one reason for my "writer's block". Along the way, I realized that the constant creation of new "stuff" or what I like to call my projects is the key to profound personal happiness. This is a big step up from a former major depressive. I am a geeky person who prefers to spend Friday and Saturday nights at home with my computer, my hubby, and my cat. I LOVE meeting new people, especially those who enjoy my creations! Please get in touch!! If you're interested in knowing what I'm up to daily please add me at Twitter as Queeniemusic or join me on Facebook/KimberlySteele. I also have a silly blog about my hair and my cat that I'm astonished that anyone reads called 2 Black haired Girls.
