Marina Gennadievna Verenikina
Birthday: Oct 3 Eyes: green Hometown:
Moscow, Russia Currently in: Los Angeles, USA
... a young girl who was
once a
shy kid playing her songs on an out-of-tune upright piano in Soviet Moscow
with neighbors knocking on the wall because it was too loud, and whose
piano teacher told her not to write anymore, who learned English by
translating the Beatles songs and whose soul cried with joy when she heard
the beautiful melodies of Russian classical and folk music, who overcame a lot of
adversity and moved all the way to America by herself at 15, leaving everything behind to make her music dreams come true.
THE VERY OFFICIAL LIFE STORY
- in depth:)
Read the basic
bio on the
main page
Born in Soviet Russia to a Communist nuclear physicist
father and a child psychologist mother,
Marina grew up in Moscow singing and making up her own melodies before she could talk.
Noticing her daughter's musical talents, Marina's mom insisted that Marina receive her
music education. So, Marina went to a school of music each day right after her regular
school.
"The school of music was very rigid. I resisted it for a long time -
I just wanted to go play with other kids after school, and not go to the
school of music every night" - Marina says
about her 8 year experience at the school of music.
When she was about ten, Marina decided to play a song of her own for her piano teacher, who scolded Marina saying that it was "simply nonsense". Too young to understand why, Marina didn't realize that the Soviet culture was not the perfect environment for an aspiring young artist with big dreams. She took her teacher's negative comments to heart and put her songwriting on hold. She turned to reading, skateboarding, torn jeans, karate and swimming, went figure skating in winter and often skipped her music classes.
Then Marina discovered the Beatles. The Beatles invaded Marina's mind and she spent hours playing their songs on the piano, figuring out the lyrics word by word and even more hours trying to find more Beatles tapes (which was quite difficult as Western music had just started to appear on the Russian markets). Marina did try to write a few more songs but was too self conscious to keep them.
Everything changed when Marina turned 15. She entered a national competition for a scholarship to study in the U.S.A. for a year and won, beating thousands of Russian peers. "I can't quite explain it, but I feel like I bloomed during that year in America. American culture has this relaxed yet 'go for it' attitude, which I think allowed me to just be myself." That was when Marina decided to move to America, by herself, and no matter the difficulties.
Marina had to return to Moscow at 16 only to find out her mom was moving to Australia and that her year of study abroad wouldn't count academically in Russia. To finance her trip back to the USA Marina took a job at a beverage franchise as a secretary and saved up her money while helping support her family and studying hard to finish high school. "It was a tumultuous and a very strange time in Russia - in late 1990s - for example: I was making more money at Cadbury-Schweppes than my father, who has a degree in nuclear physics and who was working for the government!!"
At 17, Marina finally found a way back to America, but life was far from easy. "I had a lot on my mind. I felt very guilty about leaving my family and my country, I was very lonely and scared trying to adapt to the new way of life. I was living with an abusive host family, commuting to college and working a few part-time jobs. I've had a number of terrible relationships & life-altering experiences of which I am not quite ready to openly talk about. Writing songs became my drug, therapy and my spiritual healer. It helped me come to terms with many things".
Soon Marina met Nick Baker, who inspired
her to seriously pursue a career in music. She sold her pickup truck to buy
a piano, and sang her songs for hours every day.
Neighbors in her apartment building often came to the door to hear her play,
which was at first scary but quickly became encouraging. At about the same time Marina entered
her college talent competition, sang her original song "Leaving" and won first
prize. After receiving dozens of emails and comments from students saying how much her
song moved them, Marina finally decided to go into the studio and record her songs. She
received so many pre-orders from students & faculty, that she was able to finance the
whole recording session and to manufacture the CD (Let Me Dream). Her first show in a
little coffeehouse in Jacksonville, IL, was filled to the fire capacity!
Marina & Nick started playing shows in Central Illinois & quickly expanded to
surrounding states, but not without obstacles. The CD release
concert ended up just an inch away from
tragedy, when the ceiling caved in, collapsing on top of the stage just a minute before
Marina & the band would start the concert. (full story)
After exhausting their options in Illinois, Marina & Nick relocated to Los
Angeles. "When I first moved to L.A., I didn't know ANYBODY. I
couldn't even get a club show because all of the venues expected a certain 'draw'.
I asked one booker if I could open for an act that had a good following in
town, and he just laughed at me. So I
started playing Borders Books & Music & any other gigs I could get, and made fans
one person at a time."
After sending hundreds of demos to the music industry, Marina caught attention of David
Krebs, a renowned manager from New York, who's been involved in building the
careers of Aerosmith, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Don McLean,
among others.
In April 2005, Marina released “Simple
Magic”, with two songs on the CD produced by Jack Douglas, a
legendary record producer, whose discography ranges from John Lennon
& George Harrison to Aerosmith.
In Sept 2006, Marina released her first
live album, "Live at SoundMoves", which was recorded in one session at a
recording studio in front of Marina’s most devoted fans who sponsored the
entire CD production.
Marina performed 12 fan favorites - some solo and some accompanied by her
band. For most fans, it was their first time in a recording studio, allowing
them to get up close and be a part of the magic.
Marina has recently become an American
Citizen & she now has a dual Russian-American citizenship. She
has become a big supporter of the energy independence movement and is riding
the clean vehicle wave with her Toyota Prius, whether on tour or at home in
Los Angeles.
A self-described ambitious workaholic, Marina continues
touring, writing & recording while looking for an artist-friendly record label. "I
love writing songs and I really love performing them for my audience. I can't imagine a
day without music. I will be doing this forever."
..... 2008 update: In January 2008, Marina released
"Modern Fairytale", recorded with Nick Baker, Marina's band &
their friend/engineer Jared Brown at the beautiful home studio of legendary
musician Graham Nash.
"Modern Fairytale" is an exquisite album where elements of reality &
dreams co-exist in a wonderful and a creative way.
With subjects such as love & loss, peace & war, struggle & success,
togetherness & loneliness, intertwined with vivid fairytale images (ghosts,
butterfly/guardian angels & such) Marina creates a magical, yet a very real
world, full of highs and lows. From the first notes of "Hope", through the
happy beats of "Sunshine Guaranteed" to the longing words in "Babushka",
sung in Marina's native Russian, the album is a magical collection of songs,
through and through.
EVEN MORE ABOUT MARINA:
She doesn't like jewelry (especially anything involving
real diamonds), ignores the fashion trends and wears whatever's comfortable, loves the
esoteric
"Kids In The Hall" kind of humor and has had her hair pretty much every
color - from blonde to black. Marina is known to wear t-shirts with various messages
hand-written by her using a black permanent marker. She doesn't drink or do drugs. She
quit smoking a long long time ago. She loves camping & hiking in the wild, traveling, reading,
learning Yoga, eating all kinds of international food and going to the opera,
theatre
& the movies. She used to play ice hockey and get the most penalties.
She is very much a minimalist and is saddened by
over-consumption/over-production in this world. The
deterioration of our environment makes her cry. One of her biggest passions
is
recycling and protecting nature.
She loves nice, honest people and can't stand big egos or pretense, which is rather ironic, because she
lives in Hollywood, the center for these lovely qualities. Although one of her college majors was international politics, she
tries really hard not to think too much about any kind of politics, but she
does anyway because she knows it's important to be a responsible citizen.
Thinking too much in a foreign language gives her a headache so she is
learning how to meditate.
She can often be found talking to herself in
Russian. Or in Spanish. She doesn't take herself too seriously, or at least tries not to.
Living in Los Angeles, she misses the Russian winters.
P.S. She is very much an agnostic,
although she's grew up in an atheistic society being part Jewish and
was baptized in a Russian Christian Orthodox church after the USSR fell
apart. You'd never guess, but her favorite movies are Terminator 2 and
Pretty Woman. She is a great cook but resents spending hours every day
cooking, so she cooks only for special occasions.
CRAZY APPLES BAG
January or December...
I could see the snow on the flag
But I still remember
Crazy Apples bag
"When I was growing up, I really didn’t have too many things, let’s say, I had just one pair of jeans for a few years. It was quite normal in the Soviet Union. There weren’t too many bright things, but mostly dark, solemn colors. I don't know why that was, really. But when my mom first went to America in 1991, half a year before the USSR fell apart, among other things she brought me a small plastic bag. It was white with bright green apples all over it, and it said in hot pink "Crazy Apples". It was the first bright thing that I ever owned." ~ Marina
Click here to read about
Marina's co-writer, Nick Baker