Biography

Celia performed in “The Mischievous Harlequin,” at the Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, Calif., age 6.

Celia’s performance style evolved over three decades and melds her background in folk, jazz and theatre.

Celia studied music and started performing in musical theatre as a child growing up in Santa Barbara, California.

When her family moved to Washington DC, she was introduced to the topical singer-songwriters of the 60′s as well as to progressive politics.

A single mother at age 19, Celia managed to put herself through school, earning a degree in theatre and piecing together a career in performing arts. She taught acting, and wrote and directed many original plays and musicals in educational and community settings.

Celia, solo, Peterborough, NH

These experiences shaped a dramatic sensibility which found expression as a solo acoustic act, launched at the former Peterborough, NH club, The Folkway. Throughout the 80′s, she performed in clubs throughout New England, including Passim in Cambridge and The Iron Horse in Northampton, as well as playing a large assortment of lesser known bars and coffeehouses.

Celia studied acting at Reality Theater in Boston.

Later, she returned to school to earn her Masters Degree, combining Theatre with Voice and Jazz Studies at New England Conservatory. The bars got a little better, including a seven-month stint in 1991 singing at the Bamboo Bar in the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, often cited as world’s #1 hotel. (The experience is immortalized in the song, “Bamboo Bar” on her latest CD, Cast of Characters.)

With help from nationally-known director Bill Castellino, Celia wove her autobiographical songs and stories into a one-woman show Moving Target, a classic tale about growing up amidst the turbulent political and social changes of the 60′s and 70′s. Moving Target toured from 1997 – 2004 and music from the show was featured on Celia’s 2001 debut CD, Movin’ On.

Celia at the Bamboo Bar with the house band.

 

Currently, Celia is touring a new show, First Ladies of Jazz and Pop, a tribute to the great women in music of the 20th century, from Bessie Smith to Bonnie Raitt.

She also teaches voice and performance skills in her private studio and has given workshops and master classes in many settings.

 

Mark Shilansky

Mark Shilansky has been Celia’s accompanist, producer and songwriting partner for over a decade. A rising star in the Boston jazz scene, Mark holds an M.M. in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory, and has been featured as a composer, arranger, and pianist with such artists as Luciana Souza, Lisa Thorson, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and Kenny Wheeler.