LAra Lavi
Lara Lavi never sleeps. Right and left brained, there simply isn’t time in the day for all she does. Called once by Bonnie Raitt as “One of the best kept secrets in the music world,” Lara is a professional Grammy award-winning American Singer Songwriter, artist manager, media/tech/entertainment law attorney, entrepreneur, entertainment company executive, business development specialist, film and TV producer, director & writer. Lara is the managing partner of her Seattle based boutique law firm Media Law Group. She has been practicing law since 1987 while concurrently growing as an artist and managing her production company Dreaming in Color which supports dozens of artists and filmmakers as well as housing her own film/tv/music projects. Praised as a noteworthy talented songwriter and performer by the likes of Peter Gabriel, The Neville Brothers, Carol King, and concert promoter Bill Graham (RIP), The Village Voice once called Lara “the Quintessential Songstress.”
Lara pours all she has learned on her own musical journey into the management of King Youngblood and is widely credited with orchestrated the rise of her talented son Cameron Lavi-jones and his band.
Lara recorded award winning albums both independently through the label Very Juicy Records that she and her producer husband, Maurice Jones Jr. own and on A&M records during its golden era. Lara worked for decades as a professional songwriter for Warner Chappell Publishing out of the Nashville office for several decades and then took a break to raise and eventually manage her highly musical alt rocker son Cameron Miles Lavi-Jones of King Youngblood fame before returning to her musical life. “I like to think I grew my own guitar player,” laughs Lara. “Now I am trying to figure out how to balance it all – not easy but doable…..hopefully.”
Lara began her musical career as a classical piano prodigy starting at age three. At seven she added the violin. At 18 the guitar and at 21 the viola. Concurrent with playing classical music, Lara wrote poetry and in her teens started writing songs. By the time she was 19 she had dropped out of the University of Chicago to sing in the Blues Bars of Chicago including the famous Kingston Mines where bluesman Jimmy Johnson took her under his wing and taught her how to authentically sing the blues. She eventually toured with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells until her wild ride ended when her parents insisted she finish her University Studies at the University of Michigan that led to law school at the University of Oregon.
During law school, one of her greatest mentors, Charles Neville (RIP) the horn man for the mighty New Orleans based Neville Brothers was one of the first to teach Lara how to run a band and perfect her emotive performance style. Her first single River of Hope was an ode to Charles’s own recovery journey and scored over 200 radio station launching Lara into the national music scene. Her albums The Art of Living and Inside the Room have combined sold over 500,000 hard copies – pre internet and pre social media marketing. Lara toured with many top acts including the Neville Brothers which is really where Lara learned the ropes in the national and international music business as well as attracting Bill Graham Management supporting her rise as a songstress and performer.
Now, Lara returns to the stage and the studio offering up a refreshed vision of her emotive live show and a series of albums scheduled to release with her label co-op DICE LAB in partnership with distribution company Vydia. The first single How High Is Too High will time with her return to the stage May 5th in Seattle at the - all women fronted festival Belltown Bloom held annual at the Crocodile. Her new album Mermaid Under A Desert Moon; the lost sessions comes on July 7, 2023 in celebration of her 63rd birthday. Lara is not shy about her age or the depth of her decades of experience in the music industry. “I am a better songwriter now than I was in my youth having lived a full life. I still have plenty more to say and plan on finally giving myself the gift of returning to my authentic self; marching forward and never looking back.”
Lara lives her life commuting between Seattle, NY and LA and cherishes her time with her husband, son, her newly re-formed band and her precious dog Chloe.