Awesome to be a part of another giant session call with Michael Giacchino The movie Tomorrowland, to be released in late May, is an original story from Disney. So very thrilled to be able to contribute to such a creative project.
Author: moniquedonnelly
Fox Studios Session with David Newman
Had a great session with David Newman at FOX studios the other night. He is currently recording an album comprised of film music across the decades, which will be performed live in concert soon. Such a pleasure to run into my old college friend Jason Livesay there. Jason not only arranges music for film scores, but is a great singer and string player as well!
Fun with Nate Ruess and Jeff Bhasker
Recently got to record with FUN frontman Nate Ruess on his latest project using the old choir boy pipes. Amazing producer, Jeff Bhasker, who’s received Grammy Awards for Jay-Z’s “Run This Town”, “All of the Lights” by Kanye West, and “We Are Young” by Fun, gave great direction to us singers. It’s always an incredible experience watching the incomparable vocal contractor, Edie Lehmann Boddicker translate the vision to all the singers. The acoustics in the room at Village Recorders really gave this session a reverent feel.
2015 Grammy Awards
Wow, was the 2015 Grammy Awards a blast. Working with Hanz Zimmer was AMAZING. He was so personable and fun. Pharrell put on such an energetic performance. I am so blessed to work with such talented singers and performers. Not only did I get to meet some new singers, I ran into so many old friends. It seemed like every performer had a choir. What a great night!
Josh Groban Sessions 2015
This years Josh Groban sessions were great. As always Josh is great with his singers, he even called all the musicians into the booth to give one of the tracks a quick listen, all 60 of us. Josh even brought his beautiful dog Sweeny!
My All American
I love seeing my friends succeed. I couldn’t have been more proud of my old college buddies Jason and Nolan Livesay for their amazing vocal arrangements on the soon to be released film “My All American”. Composer John Paesano offered some truly inspiring themes and the Lifesay brothers did an excellent job of translating those themes. I’ve been seeing their names in movie credits for a while now so couldn’t have been more thrilled that our paths finally crossed. I actually got to meet writer and director of the film Angelo Pizzo, who also wrote “Rudy” and “Hoosiers”. He and composer John Paesano were incredibly gracious and I’m excited to see what this power team creates.
Night At the Museum 3
Just recorded with Alan Silvestri on the score for Night at the Museum 3. It was both a privilege and a pleasure to work on this film in particular, as it is the last work starring the late Robin Williams. Having worked with Mr. Williams in the past, I’m proud to have contributed to a film which will certainly honor his legacy.
Weird Al’s “Foil”
Singing the female background vocals on “Foil” was fun and hilarious. There is never a dull moment recording with Weird Al. So please to be working with him again!
Neil Young Sessions 2014
Neil Young Album 2014
In true Neil Young style, we recorded background vocals with a full live orchestra, what a rare treat.
Just like how they did it back in the day! We recorded each song about three or four times. For the first song rather than use a click track, we simply all watched the conductor and just felt the groove.
Monique Donnelly 