Marisa Ronstadt

Marisa Ronstadt hails from a talented family based in Arizona whose name was made famous by her cousin, the multiplatinum recording artist, Linda Ronstadt. A performer at the age of seven, Marisa’s musical tastes are rooted in mariachi, R&B/soul, and rock, but like many Mexican-American’s raised in the U.S., her influences range from Lola Beltran and Pedro Infante, to The Beatles and Marvin Gaye. As early as the age of eight, Marisa was already performing big band, rock & roll, country, and top 40 music with a musical revue in Phoenix called the Amigos. She was a member of Amigos for ten years.
Now Marisa calls Los Angeles her home, where she has developed ties with major local talent such as GRAMMY® award winners Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez of the band Quetzal, Los Lobos, David Gomez and Jeremy Keller of the band Monte Carlo 76, R&B/Soul sensation Aloe Blacc (“Wake Me Up” and “I Need a Dollar”), and the singer-songwriter/rapper Maya Jupiter. In 2009, Marisa recorded and released an album as the lead vocalist for the band Monte Carlo 76 titled Marisela, produced by Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez. After touring with Monte Carlo 76, she began songwriting with band member Jeremy Keller, and before she knew it, they had given birth to a new band, MARISA RONSTADT AND THE KNOW-IT-ALLS.
Blueberry Moon is the first recording by “The Know-It-Alls”, set to release on June 3, 2014, it will mark Marisa’s first solo project recorded independently via crowd-sourced funding through Kickstarter. The album was produced by the dynamic East L.A. duo Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez, and is Marisa’s most personal and heartfelt work to date. Blueberry Moon reflects her love of classic R&B/soul, with an indie-pop flair that keeps the album fresh and the sound new. “These songs are very personal, written and recorded at a time when I was awaiting the birth of my first baby. The title track ‘Blueberry Moon’ was written for my daughter. I was so inspired by the growing life within me” said Marisa. From the smooth, sweet vocals on the title track, to the Motown inspired feel-good song “Save Me,” Blueberry Moon will be the album that begs listeners to take notice of the next Ronstadt generation! The album also includes a nod to East L.A. legendary Chicano rock band Los Lobos with a cover of “Will The Wolf Survive” that takes the song from its original blues/rock sound, to an upbeat R&B track, with trumpet and beautiful female vocal harmonies. Marisa’s songwriting skills don’t only come in one language, as evidenced by her song “Cansada”, written in Spanish, about heartbreak and letting go. Blueberry Moon is sprinkled with little treats—interludes that feel like those tiny bite size chocolates that satisfy your craving, but make you wish you had full bar! Well the good news is, one of the three interludes is the full bar! It’s a unique five-minute piece of heaven.
The album ends with a powerful and inspirational song “Freedom”, featuring the talented Maya Jupiter in a poignant rap. Marisa wrote “Freedom” in 2010 after the anti-immigrant Arizona Senate Bill 1070 created such controversy and negativity for people in her home state. It was the strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S. history, and Marisa felt it necessary to immediately release a song via YouTube (http://youtu.be/eIwsDo1uTLY), hoping it would help shed light on the negative impact the bill was having on innocent people. Marisa’s Father, Jose Armando Ronstadt, a respected news reporter/host for Noticias Mundo Fox collaborated on the Spanish lyrics on the song. The “Freedom” video, with images of the protests against SB 1070, was viewed over 4,000 times on YouTube, and was featured in a news piece on NPR Latino (http://www.npr.org/blogs/altlatino/201...).

http://marisaknowitall.com/