Shara Nova

Shara Worden
Shara Worden performing with My Brightest Diamond at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee in 2006.
Background information
Born	(1974-04-22) April 22, 1974
Genres	Folk, indie rock, experimental
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, producer, musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele, kalimba
Years active	1997-present
Labels	Asthmatic Kitty
Website	www.mybrightestdiamond.com

Shara Worden is the lead singer and songwriter for My Brightest Diamond. She was previously a backup vocalist for Sufjan Stevens and the frontwoman of Awry.

Life

Shara was born in Eldorado, Arkansas. Her father was an accordion player and choir director and her mother was an organist for their Pentecostal church. Worden's uncle Donald Ryan, a classical and jazz pianist and arranger, taught her piano lessons as a child. Worden's family moved to many different states when she was a child, including significant time in Sapulpa, Oklahoma and Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Worden graduated from the University of North Texas with a BA for vocal performance. After university, she lived in Moscow, Russia for a year where she studied Russian and wrote songs, producing a self-released, limited edition EP "Session I". She moved to New York City, where she continued to study opera with Josephine Mongiardo. In 2009 Worden moved to Detroit, Michigan.

Career

In 2001 Shara Worden self-released two albums in collaboration with guitarist Shane Yarbrough under the moniker Awry, "The Orange Album" and "Quiet B Sides". A short tour followed the release of the albums, after which the band dissolved. In 2002 and 2003 Ms. Worden wrote music for Adam Rapp's play "Trublinka" (directed by Simon Hammerstein) and subsequently for Hammerstein's production of Jean Paul Sartre's "Men without Shadows". She began studying composition with Padma Newsome during this time. Then in 2004 she began touring in Sufjan Stevens' band for the tours supporting his album "Michigan". In 2006, she released the album "Bring Me The Workhorse" on Asthmatic Kitty Records under the moniker My Brightest Diamond and was nominated for Female Artist of the Year in the PLUG Independent Music Awards. The My Brightest Diamond albums "A Thousand Shark's Teeth" (2008) and "All Things Will Unwind" (2011) were also released on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

She made a guest appearance on the Jedi Mind Tricks album Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell in 2006 and on the Vinnie Paz album Season of the Assassin in 2010. In 2008 Ms. Worden sang as a background vocalist for Laurie Anderson during five performances at The Rose Theater for the show "Homeland". She performed guest vocals on "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" and "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing" from the 2009 album from The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love, singing vocals for the part of "The Queen". She also performed with The Decemberists on their "A Short Fazed Hovel Tour" along with Becky Stark from Lavender Diamond. She performed vocals on Sufjan Stevens' album The Age of Adz, notably taking the lead during a section of "Impossible Soul". Ms. Worden performed in and wrote the song "Nine" for Bryce and Aaron Dessner's multi-media performance "The Long Count" with texts and images by Matthew Ritchie. "The Long Count" was performed at The Krannert Center (2009), BAM (2009), The Holland Festival (2012) and The Barbican (2012). In January 2012 Ms. Worden performed the premiere of the song cycle "Death Speaks" by David Lang with pianist Nico Muhly, violinist Owen Pallett and guitarist Bryce Dessner.

As a composer Ms. Worden is credited for writing two pieces for chamber ensemble yMusic on their album "Beautiful Mechanical" (New Amsterdam Records 2011). Organist James McVinnie and violist Nadia Sirota performed her piece "From the Invisible" at MusicNOW festival in March 2012. Written as a gift for The Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the song "Before the Words" was first performed by the choir at Crossing Borders Festival at BAM in New York, May 2012. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus then commissioned two additional pieces entitled, "My Body The Earth" and "Whoever You Are", with text from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass". Ms. Worden composed music for brass quartet, drums and choir for Andrew Ondrejcak's play "Kings of Macedonia". She also performed in the play as the character "The Whore" in May of 2012 at The Kitchen.

Ms. Worden became a Kresge performing arts fellow in 2012.

Discography

Solo Albums

YEAR	ALBUM ARTIST NAME	ALBUM TITLE
1998	Shara	Word
2004	Shara Worden	Shara Worden Live at Schubas 11/18/2004

Collaborations and Guest Appearances (where credited as Shara Worden)

Albums

YEAR	ARTIST	ALBUM TITLE	VOCALS: LEAD/CO-LEAD/BACKING
1997	Mingo Fishtrap	Succotash	Co-Lead
2003	Bogs Visionary Orchestra	Recession Special	Backing
2005	Sufjan Stevens	Illinoise	Backing
2005/2006	Sufjan Stevens	Songs for Christmas, Vol. 3: Ding! Dong!	Backing
2006	Sufjan Stevens	The Avalanche	Backing
2008	Ready Fire Aim	This Changes Nothing	Backing
2009	DM Stith	Heavy Ghost	Backing
2009	Clare and The Reasons	Arrow	Backing
2010	Sufjan Stevens	Age Of Adz	Backing
2010	Clogs	The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton	Lead (select songs)
2010	Sarah Kirkland Snider	Penelope	Lead
2011	(Collaboration)	Letters to Distant Cities	Lead; spoken word

Individual Songs

YEAR	ARTIST	ALBUM TITLE	SONG TITLE	VOCALS: LEAD/CO-LEAD/BACKING
2005	Garden of Souls	Wake Up EP	Runes (Diamond Mix)	Co-Lead
2006	Jedi Mind Tricks	Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell	When All Light Dies	Co-Lead
2006	Jedi Mind Tricks	Servants In Heaven, Kings In Hell	Razorblade Salvation	Co-Lead
2006	Pedestrian	Ghostly Life	Overwhelmed	Backing
2009	(Bifrost Arts Compilation Album)	Come O Spirit!	Kyrie	Co-Lead
2009	The Decemberists	The Hazards of Love	The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid	Co-Lead
2009	The Decemberists	The Hazards of Love	The Queen's Rebuke	Lead
2009	900X	Music For Lubbock, 1980	Lands	Lead
2010	Vinnie Paz	Season Of The Assassin	Keep Moving' On	Co-Lead
2010	David Byrne & Fatboy Slim	Here Lies Love	Seven Years	Co-Lead
2011	Owen Pallett	Export(demo)	The Great Elsewhere	Lead
2011	Prefuse 73	Only She Chapters	The Only Hand to Hold	Lead
2011	Uphill Racer	How It Feels To Find There's More	Overfrail	Lead
2011	Colin Stetson	New History Warfare 2: Judges	Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes	Lead
2011	Colin Stetson	New History Warfare 2: Judges	"Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun	Lead
2011	Stateless	Matilda	I'm On Fire	Co-Lead
2011	Son Lux	We Are Rising	Rebuild	Backing
2011	The Revival Hour	Hold Back/Run Away (7" Single)	Hold Back	Backing
2012	S / S / S	Beak & Claw	If This Is Real	Backing (Chorus)
2012	The Universal Thump	All Things Must Pass	Beware of Darkness	Lead
2012	Recoil	Spirit of Talk Talk - Compilation	Dum Dum Girl	Lead

With AwRY

Albums

YEAR	ALBUM TITLE	ALBUM TYPE
2001	AwRY (aka "The Orange Album")	Full-length studio release
2001	Quiet B Sides	Full-length studio release
2003	Remix 1	6-song remix EP

With My Brightest Diamond

Albums

YEAR	ALBUM TITLE	ALBUM TYPE
2006	Bring Me The Workhorse	Full-length studio release
2006	Disappear	EP (5 songs)
2007	Tear It Down	Full-length double album / Remixes
2008	Shark Demos	EP (6 songs, alternate versions)
2008	A Thousand Shark's Teeth	Full-length studio release
2008	From The Top Of The World	EP (4 songs)
2008	Inside A Boy	Single (4 songs)
2008	Shark Remixes Vol 1: Alfred Brown	Remix EP
2008	The Black Sessions	Limited-edition CD of live show at Studio 106, Paris
2009	Shark Remixes Vol 2: Son Lux	Remix EP
2009	Shark Remixes Vol 3: Roberto C. Lange	Remix EP
2010	Shark Remixes Vol 4: DM Stith	Remix EP
2010	Shark Remixes	Limited-edition signed compilation of all previous Shark Remix Volumes 1 - 4 (1,500 hand-numbered copies)
2011	All Things Will Unwind	Full-length studio release
2011	Be Brave	Single (3 song versions)
2012	I Have Never Loved Someone	7" single, alternate version, with "Bird on a Wire" B-side, limited edition 1,000 hand-numbered copies

Collaborations and Compilation Contributions

YEAR	ARTIST (OR PUBLISHER)	ALBUM TITLE	SONG TITLE	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
2006	(Asthmatic Kitty Records)	Mews Too	Riding Horses	MBD recording of a song originally published by AwRY
2007	(Stereogum)	OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer	Lucky	MBD remake of Radiohead song
2007	(family records)	Cross-Pollination: The Mixtape Vol. 1	Hi, Remember Me?
2008	(Engine Room Recordings)	Guilt By Association Vol. 2	Tainted Love	MBD remake of Gloria Jones/Soft Cell song
2008	(Animal World)	I'll Stay 'Til After Christmas	Nature Boy	MBD remake of eden ahbez/Nat King Cole song
2008	(Mojo Magazine)	The White Album Recovered No. 2	Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey	MBD remake of Beatles song
2009	(4AD Records)	Dark Was The Night	Feeling Good	MBD remake of Nina Simone song
2009	(Biggest Label Ever)	(released as single, digital download)	The Honey Bee	MBD contribution to support the Invisible Children charity
2010	My Brightest Diamond/Dayna Kurtz	Gone Away/Postcards From Downtown	Postcards From Downtown	Split single, each artist covers a song from the other; 7" release limited to 1,000 numbered copies
2011	Liz Janes	Time & Space	Bitty Thing	Shara Worden vocals, credited as My Brightest Diamond
2012	(Mojo Magazine)	The Songs of Leonard Cohen Covered	Bird On A Wire	MBD remake of Leonard Cohen song, with Marc Ribot

External links

• http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2011/01/28/live-shara-worden-gets-fancy-at-lincoln-center
• http://asthmatickitty.com/my-brightest-diamond
• http://pacificlectic.com/2011/10/18/the-evolution-of-shara-worden/