| Kina Grannis | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kina Kasuya Grannis |
| Born | August 4, 1985 |
| Genres | Acoustic Pop |
| Occupations | Guitarist Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar Vocals Ukulele Glockenspiel Piano |
| Years active | 2001 – present |
| Labels | One Haven (2010–present) Independent (2009–2010) Interscope Records (2008) |
| Associated acts | David Choi |
| Website | www.kinagrannis.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Taylor 814ce Taylor K22ce Cordoba 45-R Kamaka HF-2 Concert |
|
Kina Kasuya Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is a Japanese American guitarist and singer-songwriter. She is of Japanese, English, Irish, French, and German descent.[1]
Grannis was the winner of the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest.[2] As a result of winning, she earned a recording contract with Interscope Records and had her music video played during the commercials of Super Bowl XLII.[3] She recently won Best Web-Born Artist at the 2011 MTV O Music Awards.[4]
Her progress in the competition was covered in The Orange County Register[5][6][7][8] and The Wall Street Journal.[9] Grannis has also been featured on FOX News Los Angeles, Good Day L.A. and Yahoo!.[10][11]
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Kina grew up in Mission Viejo, California, and it was here where her love for music began. In elementary school, she composed and submitted piano compositions to district art competitions. Soon afterwards, she began playing the violin, an instrument she would play throughout high school. By age 15, she started teaching herself the guitar and it was this instrument with which she fell in love.
She attended Viejo Elementary School, Newhart Middle School and from 1999 to 2003 Capistrano Valley High School.
Grannis enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles in 2003. Two years later, staff members of the University's Thornton School of Music asked her to produce an album in their music and music industry departments. That album, Sincerely, Me, was released the same year. In 2007, she graduated Summa Cum Laude in social science with an emphasis on psychology. While attending USC, she was inducted into academic societies Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi.
In 2006, Grannis recorded and self-released two more albums, One More in the Attic and In Memory of the Singing Bridge. In early 2007, she recorded "Ours to Keep" written by Rachael Lawrence and Deborah Ellen. This song would be featured regularly on General Hospital[12] and was in an episode of the ABC Family's mini-series Samurai Girl in September 2008.[13]
On November 14, 2007, she created her YouTube account and began posting videos of her songs online. Her first video, "Message From Your Heart," was entered into Doritios Crash the Super Bowl contest. The contest, which she won, landed her a contract with Interscope Records. Her YouTube videos have received more than 77 million views and have propelled her to become one of YouTube's most popular personalities. Grannis planned to work with Interscope Records to produce a new album but in January 2009, she announced that she was leaving the label to be an independent artist.
On February 24, 2008, Grannis sang the national anthem for the Auto Club 500 NASCAR race in Fontana, California. In June 2009 her songs "Never Never" and "People" were used in episodes of MTV's reality series College Life. On January 13, 2010 Grannis was the headliner at a sold-out show at The Troubadour club in Los Angeles.
Stairwells was released on February 23, 2010 and included many original songs already appearing on YouTube, as well as three previously unreleased songs: "World in Front of Me," "In Your Arms" and "Mr. Sun." Stairwells debuted at No. 139 on the Billboard 200,[14] No. 5 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums chart, No. 2 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart,[15] and No. 18 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.[16] The location of her release party for Stairwells, the Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica, was the subject of an article in the Orange Country Register because the venue enabled her to show her gratitude to her fans.[17]
On March 13, 2010, her single "Valentine" was played by Paul Gambaccini on BBC Radio 2, the most popular radio station in the UK.[18] The music video for "Valentine" directed by a young and talented viral video director Ross Ching has been viewed well over 11 million times on YouTube. [19][20][21]
Grannis' Stairwells Springtime Tour began in San Francisco on May 24, 2010 and concluded in late June after several stints on the East Coast and in Canada. Her Fall Tour began on September 17, 2010 and concluded on November 17, 2010.[22] On July 10, 2010 she played at Lilith Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.[23]
In 2010, Grannis was featured as Judy in a miniseries by Wong Fu Productions entitled "Funemployed".[24][25][26][27][28][29]
In early 2011, Grannis was awarded the title of Sirius/XM CoffeeHouse's 2010 Singer-Songwriter Discovery of the Year after a months-long online voting period. Her song "Heart and Mind" was used for the German TV series Anna und die Liebe.
On November 3, 2011, Grannis released a stop-motion music video for the single In Your Arms, using 288,000 Jelly Belly jelly beans. It took about 2 years to complete the project.[30] The video accumulated over 1 million views within the first three days.[31]
In April 2011, Grannis launched her first world tour. She performed in the eastern regions of Canada, continuing down the eastern and southern regions of the United States. She continued in May through the northwest region of North America back up to British Columbia, and ending in Los Angeles. Shows in Europe and southeast Asia followed into the fall of 2011.
Grannis has two sisters, Misa and Emi, both of whom have occasionally been featured in her video blogs, as well as accompanied her at certain concerts, often while on tour. Her father, Gordon, is a chiropractor.[32] and her mother Trish a graphic designer. An avid supporter of cancer research, Grannis has performed at several Southern California Relay For Life functions over the years.[33] In late 2007, she contributed her music to the Band Together: To Fight Measles benefit album.[34] In October 2008, she participated in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco to support the Leukemia Lymphoma Society in honor of her mother, raising $6,000 for the organization. In 2009, the philanthropic organization Sister to Sisters adopted her song "Message From Your Heart."
Albums
|
Music Videos
Singles
|
| Year | Title | Type | Song |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | General Hospital | TV series episode | "Ours to Keep"[8] |
| 2008 | Glass City | Feature film | "Down and Gone (The Blue Song)"[35] |
| "Strong Enough"[35] | |||
| "Try"[35] | |||
| J.C. Penney | Web Ad: "Back-to-School Interactive Initiative" | "My Time With You"(with David Choi)[36] | |
| Samurai Girl | TV mini-series | "Ours to Keep" | |
| Super Bowl XLII | TV sports program | "Message From Your Heart"[37] | |
| 2009 | College Life | TV series episode: "Spring Break" | "People"[38] |
| TV series episode: "Year's End" | "Never Never" | ||
| General Hospital | TV series episode | "Walking Away" | |
| Sister to Sister | Nonprofit: Theme song | "Message From Your Heart" | |
| 2010 | Agents of Secret Stuff | Web Film | "My Time with You" |
| 2011 | Pretty Little Liars | TV episode | "In Your Arms" |
| The Protector | TV episode | "Back To Us" | |
| The Real World | TV episode | "In Your Arms" | |
| My Life as Liz | TV episode (S2E05) | "The Goldfish Song" |
| Year | Award | Nominated Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Crash the Super Bowl | "Message From Your Heart" | Won[37] |
| 2010 | Sirius/XM CoffeeHouse's 2010 Singer-Songwriter Discovery of the Year | Self | Won[39] |
| 2011 | MTV O Music Awards Best Web-Born Artist | Self | Won[4] |