Dianne Nola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dianne Nola (born Dianne Marie Nola on March 22, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter and voice over actor. Though compared to Laura Nyro and Tori Amos in both poetics, strength and soul, her blues and jazz roots make her music difficult to categorize.
Nola grew up on an orchard in the Central Valley of California and began writing and professionally performing at cafés in high school. She then attended the University of California at Santa Cruz where she earned degrees in Theater and Music—piano and voice. It was there that she became active in the jazz scene performing and fronting small ensembles. In 1986, she formed a duo with vocalist Gail Clark. The two became active performers on the folk and women’s music circuit with a repertoire that included Nola’s originals as well as jazz standards.
She moved to San Francisco in 1990 to promote her new album, "When Are You Gonna Move To L.A.?" and to be a part of the bourgeoning neo-folk scene. Within months, she assembled local jazz players to form "Dianne Nola with Driving On Ice." Her song, "Where Have My Years Gone?", recorded with the group, was chosen as one of the finalists in the Best of the San Francisco Bay 1992 competition.
By the late 1990s, the performance art group, Food Sexy, was playing original songs about the erotic nature of food. The group included Nola on lead vocals, various instruments and tap dancing alongside San Francisco singer-songwriter True Margrit. Unfortunately, the music Nola wanted to perform did not prove to be financially rewarding.
Frustrated with the music industry, she went back to college to pursue a degree in jazz education. She eventually became more inspired from the music scene in Austin, Texas and started performing a blues act in period attire around the San Francisco Bay Area.
She entered voice over acting when audio engineer Ron Calonje, who knew of her abilities, managed to get her an audition—she was subsequently cast in 1995. Since then she has worked on Broadcast, CD-Rom, Film and Industrial Narration projects including all of the female characters for the international award-winning Warlords Battlecry 3, Hasbro Toys and the computer voice for Hollywood Pictures' Judge Dredd.