Cecily Gardner is a singer, voice teacher, and songwriter with a B.A. in music from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Having spent many years making her living as a singer in the San Francisco Bay Area, she relocated to Los Angeles to pursue her songwriting career. The first year she arrived in LA, Cecily was one of 14 songwriters selected to participate in the prestigious yearly ASCAP West Coast Pop Songwriting Workshop. The following year, she was awarded the 1993 Lionel Richie Songwriting Scholarship at UCLA Extension.

 

Cecily is a founding (and current) member of the a cappella improvisation group Fish to Birds, based in the Los Angeles area. Their motto is “Six Voices, No Script: Swim Deep, Fly High!” Performing with this group is an exercise in listening, improvising, and being a team player; each member brings something unique to this exciting vocal group. Fish to Birds features Cecily Gardner, Cathy Segal-Garcia, Ashley Maher, Emile Hassan Dyer, Adrianne Duncan and Mon David, and often features guest singer Tracy Robertson. Fish to Birds are proud endorsers of E/V microphones.

 

Cecily also teaches voice lessons. A Voiceworks Associate, she has trained in the Voiceworks Method with world renowned voice teacher Lisa Popeil. Cecily has studied with a number of other voice teachers and coaches, including Jane Sharp, Susan Anders and Seth Riggs. She is also a member of NATS, the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has taught singing and songwriting at a number of schools in the Los Angeles area, having been trained as a teaching artist at the Los Angeles Music Center’s Teaching Artist Apprentice Program (TAAP). Cecily brings to voice study a unique perspective; that of a working musician.

 

Cecily has recorded and/or appeared with many artists including Bobby McFerrin, David Foster, Linda Tillery (formerly with McFerrin's Voicestra), Rhiannon (also formerly of Voicestra), Patti Cathcart (of Tuck and Patti, Windham Hill recording artists), Ray Obiedo (also on Windham Hill), Dianne Reeves, and William Kennedy (Yellowjackets).

  

In November 2016, Cecily released an album of original songs with Scott Fuller, on the Spanish label Contante & Sonante, entitled Gardner & Fuller: Original Demos. This collection of 12 songs includes several tracks featuring the vocals of the late Warren Wiebe, a fabled protegé of David Foster and other songwriters in the Westcoast Pop genre. The CD features Cecily’s writing on 11 of the 12 songs, and her vocals on all but 2 of the tracks. She also appears on several other compilation releases on Contante & Sonante.

 

She also recorded Boat of Stars, an album of jazz standards and original compositions with her brother, pianist Jeff Gardner, which includes several songs Cecily co-wrote with her brother. This CD is now out of print, but is available for digital purchase by special request

 

Cecily has a solid background in jazz as well as contemporary pop and R&B. She has taken her own group out on several overseas tours, including a number of engagements in Europe and the Middle East. Cecily has performed locally at such venues as The Jazz Bakery, The Skirball Center, The Blue Whale Jazz Club, and Bar Fedora in Los Angeles.  She has also performed at many private and corporate functions, and sings regularly on recording sessions for both commercial and private clients.

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"Cecily's vocals are

like a warm hug"

                                                             - Gabriel Raya / Contante & Sonante