Marié Digby

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Marié Digby
Background information
Birth name	Marié Christina Digby
Born	April 16, 1983 (1983-04-16) (age 26) New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s)	Pop, alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	2004—present
Label(s)	Hollywood Records, Avex Trax
Website	Marié Digby Official Japanese Website MySpace Official Website YouTube Official Website

Marié Christina Digby (pronounced /mɑːriˈeɪ ˈdɪɡbi/ mah-ree-AY DIG-bee; born April 16, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist. She is best known for her acoustic cover version of Rihanna's No. 1 hit "Umbrella", which attracted attention on YouTube in 2007. The song was subsequently played on the radio station STAR 98.7, was featured on the third season opening episode of the MTV show The Hills,^[1] and peaked at #10 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. Digby performed the song on the late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly on August 2, 2007.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Allegations of astroturfing 4 Album internet leak 5 YouTube fame 6 Popular culture 7 Awards and nominations 8 Discography 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Biography

Digby, whose mother is Japanese and father is white(Irish American), is the eldest of three siblings.^[2] Her two sisters are Naomi (born December 12, 1985) and Erina (born August 8, 1987). She began writing songs during high school in Los Angeles, California. After completing her sophomore year as a philosophy major at the University of California, Berkeley, she came out into the public eye when she won the 2004 Pantene Pro-Voice competition with her song "Miss Invisible".^[3] The grand prize for the concert included working with a professional producer on an album, $5,000 and performing on stage with other top performers.^[4]

[edit] Career

After performing at numerous night clubs, Digby signed a publishing deal with Rondor Music, a subsidiary of Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group in early 2005. By the end of 2005, Digby had signed with Disney's Hollywood Records and her first album of original songs was completed by the end of 2006. Also in 2006, her song "Fool" was included on the Disney compilation album Girl Next. In early 2007, she began to post simple videos of herself singing cover songs of other artists on YouTube in order to gain visibility. Hollywood Records then released a high-quality studio recording of her rendition of "Umbrella" to iTunes and radio stations.^[5] She is often seen performing using a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar.^[6]

Digby's first official single, "Say It Again", was released to radio stations on January 18, 2008. Her debut album, Unfold, which was completed over a year ago, was released on April 8, 2008. She worked with some of Hollywood's best including Tom Rothrock (Producer), Charlie Paxson (drums) and Matt Chait (guitar). Many different editions of the album exist, including a Japanese edition with different cover artwork and an alternate tracklisting. The album's second single, "Stupid For You", was released in September, 2008.

Digby released a collection of Japanese cover songs on March 4, 2009. The album, titled "Second Home," was recorded completely in Japanese and received a limited release only in Japan. One critic in Japan said Marié's voice, "delivers the wind of the spring."

Digby's sophomore English release was originally slated for release in May 2009, but she asked the label to push the release date back until she finds a manager at Hollywood Records. According to Amazon.com, Breathing Underwater will now be released on September 8, 2009.

[edit] Allegations of astroturfing

On September 6, 2007, The Wall Street Journal alleged that Digby's YouTube success was part of an astroturfing strategy, suggesting that the singer feigned her amateur status as part of Hollywood Records' online strategy. The article stated that the record label signed Digby eighteen months prior of being a YouTube phenomenon.^[7]

[edit] Album internet leak

On April 8, 2009, "Breathing Underwater" was leaked onto the internet, months prior to the new June release date.

On April 9, 2009, Digby responded on her MySpace page to those concerned about the leak:

"Yesterday, my album advance was sent only to the folks at my record label, radio DJ's and music supervisors. It is just inevitable that one of those people are going to try and make a buck or put up the music just for their own personal satisfaction. It's sad but it's just a part of life. But the truth is, I love this album so much. I am so proud of it and I am almost excited that now people who really want to, can listen to all the hard work that I've done over the last few months. If you feel the need to buy the album off of ebay or to download the whole thing for free just remember one thing please. I live and breathe music. It is all that I do in life and all that I want to do for the rest of my life. Please know that the one way you can help me continue doing it is by supporting my album. If you can't afford 8 dollars for an album, then you can always support your favorite artists by even just purchasing a song or two! If an artist I love had made a new album and it was on the internet, I would probably want it too !! But I would undoubtedly go and buy the album with pride on the date of release as well.. but that's just me :)"

[edit] YouTube fame

Digby is recognized on YouTube for her simple popular music covers, which include Linkin Park, The Game, Rihanna, Maroon 5, and Nelly Furtado, as well as her original compositions. She has over 170,000 subscribers and her channel has been viewed over 4 million times. As of May 2009, she is the 11th most subscribed musician on YouTube, ahead of names like Chris Brown, Taylor Swift and Tay Zonday.

She also held an Autographed Guitar Giveaway Contest on YouTube. Contestants were asked to create an original video including her hit single "Say it Again" in any way. She once recorded a video of hers in the bathroom because "The bathroom has the best acoustics in the house".

[edit] Popular culture

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008)

• Marié Digby's songs "Spell" and "Say It Again" were recently featured in episodes of Smallville, the closing for season 7 episode 7, "Wrath", and for episode 12, "Fracture", respectively, though she did not write the song "Spell" herself and in fact does not even sing it herself (The last one being favorite song of one character).

• Her song "Bring Me Love" served as the music bed for ABC Family's movie Holiday in Handcuffs.

• Her song "Breathing Underwater" premiered on The City (MTV series) episode 12

• Her unreleased song "Where Do I Go?" was the main song for the Lifetime movie The Dive From Clausen's Pier.

• As one of the musicians chosen by Gap for their new "The Sound of Color" campaign, Digby wrote and recorded "Paint Me In Your Sunshine", inspired by the color yellow.

• After the popularity of "Umbrella", on episode 301 of the show, her song "Beauty In Walking Away" was heard during episode 322 of the The Hills also, and recently "Avalanche" during episode 503.

• The design of the cover of her album Unfold was mostly based on the doodles she drew during her downtime in the recording of the album [2]

• She appears playing her song, "Better Off Alone" in Dobler's in ABC Family drama Greek. Episode 21 "Barely Legal"
• "Say It Again" plays briefly on the final episode of ER's fourteenth season, "The Chicago Way"

[edit] Awards and nominations

Year	Status	Competition	Grand Prize	Song
2004	Won	Pantene Pro-Voice competition	Working with a professional producer, $5,000 and performing on stage	Miss Invisible

Year	Status	Award	Category	Work
2009	Won	Teen Music Internacioal - Brazil	Best New Artist	Unfold
	Nominated		Best Female Pop Vocal Performance[8]	Say It Again

[edit] Discography

• Unfold
• Second Home - Album in Japanese
• Breathing Underwater

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marié Digby

• Marié Digby at MySpace
• Marié Digby's YouTube channel
• [3]
• All Music
• Marié Digby's Official Facebook Music Page
• MariéDigby.org
• Sweet Marié Digby - a Hong Kong fansite dedicated to Marié Digby and her work
• Digbyholics.com | Marié Digby's #1 Fans
• AArisings A-Profiler Interview Published March 25, 2008
• Nichi Bei Times Interview Published April 17, 2008

v • d • e Marié Digby Albums Unfold · Breathing Underwater EPs Start Here EP Singles "Say It Again" · "Stupid For You" · "Avalanche" · "Symphony" Other Singles "Umbrella" · "Bring Me Love" · "Feel"