Tara Priya December 4, 2010

Art isn’t limited to Tara Priya’s soul: it’s in her blood. The great-niece of the renowned Persian poet, Sohrab Sepehri, Tara was singing, playing the piano, and writing her first book of poetry at the tender of age of 4. Born to a Persian mother and an Indian father, Tara was exposed to a diverse mix of music and dance from birth.

The Bay Area native loved to perform and quickly found her way onstage through community theater. Starring in the California Theater Center’s “Thumbelina” convinced Tara’s parents to put her in voice lessons. By the time she was 11, she was playing the drums in her school jazz band and training opera on the weekends.

That same year, her mother passed away from cancer, leaving Tara to find comfort in writing and music. Performance—whether as a member of the Peninsula Teen Opera Company, as a voice major at The Harker School’s Conservatory Program, or as a jazz singer in local lounges and cafés—served as both escape and expression. “My teenage years were some of my darkest,” Tara admits, “but they were also my most creative. Poetry, prose, songs—I couldn’t stop writing.” Her talent didn’t go unnoticed by the prestigious Scholastic Art and Writing Awards: at 16, Tara won its National Gold Award. At 18, she received the Writing Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Tara trekked on to Columbia University, where she continued jazz and classical voice while majoring in Economics. But despite loving her classes, interning at Merrill Lynch, and performing throughout New York, the evocative singer couldn’t shake the feeling that her path lay elsewhere. “I kept waiting for that ‘aha!’ moment, when you’ve finally settled in and feel like you belong ,” she explains. “New York and Columbia exposed me to so many new things, and I definitely grew as an artist. But every time I heard young female artists like Amy Winehouse or Rihanna on the radio, I felt like crying. My heart knew what it wanted.”

Fatefully, Tara discovered that in trying to keep herself busy, she had nearly finished her BA by her second year. In 2009—a year and a half ahead of schedule—she graduated magna cum laude and left Columbia to pursue a singing career.

The path to stardom is far from straightforward—post-grad, Tara spent months backpacking around the world and did a brief stint in finance to help fund her EP—but if anyone can make the journey, it’s Tara Priya. Gifted with the remarkable ability to compose a song on the spot, the “retro-soul” singer quickly built up an impressive catalog of blues-tinged songs; her September 2010 EP has received praise from radio DJs nationwide, garnering airplay on stations such as KTUH, KALX, WGTB, WKCR, and WHAP. She continues to perform in New York and Hollywood’s hottest venues, was showcased at Nashville’s The Bluebird Café, and, most recently, was honored as one of three Pop finalists in the international John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

So what does the future hold for this bright-eyed young songstress? We can’t say, but we know what’s in ours. Soulfulness, creativity, determination, and ambition, all wrapped up in one irresistible, irrepressible force of nature: Tara Priya.

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