George Fox University | Academics | Departments | Artist Biographies
2007-2008 Artist BiographiesCheck out last year's artists here!Artist Biographies
VeniaVenia is a group comprised of three junior girls: Anna Ward, Becca Couch and Karen Vogan. They began after playing for a women's retreat in October of 2006. The three girls are all very talented musically and have true gifts from God. Anna plays the violin, Becca plays the piano and provides back-up vocals to their song and Karen plays the guitar and is the lead vocalist. A funny little story that Venia likes to ponder on is a â?¦.Jittering with excitement and bitter cold, three girls left their Beebe Suite early one morning (5am to be exactâ?¦wellâ?¦we were running a little lateâ?¦so make that 5:20). They threw their instruments in the trunk of a friend's car they were borrowing for the day and headed to a friend's house to record some music. After arriving at the house, thawed, but still excited, they stuck the key in the lock of the trunk to retrieve their instrumentsâ?¦at this point, the warning that the key for the car did not actually work for the trunk lock had completely left their minds. After a few minutes twisting and turning, the key broke off with a snapâ?¦securing their instruments and high spirits within the trunk's dark abyss. Being women of brilliant resourcefulness they turned to the trunk release lever by the driver's seat. One pop, and they grabbed their instruments and headed into the house for a day of recording. Hours later, Anna's dad showed up with a lock smith, who was able to retract the broken key parts and mold a new key for the drive home. Moral: Trunk release levers work better than keysâ?¦or just listen when your friend tells you how her car works. 
Evan BurtEvan Burt started playing the guitar at twelve, at the time influenced by artists such as Michael W. Smith and Skillet. He started writing music at fourteen, and at fifteen his band had the opportunity to play their songs live on TV. He has been leading worship for six years at his hometown church in Woodburn, OR and is planning on releasing a CD in the summer of '07. He enjoys playing worship songs above all, but loves composing and sharing his music with whoever wants to hear it. 
EllingsworthEllingsworth is a band in its embryonic stage. We like to think of ourselves as melodic acoustic rock saturated with rich harmonies. We make music that we like to hear and have fun doing it. We are Life Through the Eyes. 
Sara MendozaI can't think of a better way to glorify and praise God than singing songs that worship Him, that speak of His truth and mercy and that tell of His unfailing love. God is the reason for my songs; He is the reason for my joy every time I pick up my guitar and play. God has given me so much that I can't help but use the one thing I love so much, music, to worship Him. He has brought me through difficult times and has blessed me with so much more than I ever could have imagined. How can I not love this God? How can I not worship Him with everything I am? I pray that my life and actions serve as a reflection of His work in me. 
Alex Post and Kyle BillinskiAlex a junior and Kyle a senior hit it off after meeting through Bryan Harada. Kyle played a funky bass and Alex was diggin it for his song, so Alex asked him up to be apart of his song. Fortunately Kyle was willing to bless the track with his skills and the rest is history. Inspirations of their bank include making dope tracksâ?¦they're just so fun! Kyle worked his skills pretty much on the spot in the studio while working! 
Karen VoganKaren began playing piano when she was just a kid, but she taught herself how to play guitar after her freshman year of high school. From there she began writing songs, playing and singing with worship teams for church and FCA. Almost anything in Karen's life can inspire her to write - a good conversation, a sermon, a good book and even another song even. Karen is not sure where she is going but she loves music and will probably always sing and play. Overall, Karen just loves to laughâ?¦a lot. 
Mccoy DoerrieThe first instrument McCoy learned how to play was his own voice. He always loved singing. But McCoy was unsure how he sounded. You always sound different to yourself than how you sound to other people. So he recorded himself singing by calling his home phone and leaving voice mails, and then listening to them. He hopes he deleted all those voice mails. McCoy picked up the guitar sometime in high school and just set out to learn all the Dave Matthews Band he could take in. Playing is just a hobby. McCoy doesn't have aspirations of making a career out of it or anything. Instead, he just plans to make himself available whenever he is needed at church, around a campfire, or maybe even a midnight serenade. Who knows, he may show up at your window tonightâ?¦please don't call the police. 
Katelyn O'DohertyShe has been singing her whole life. Katelyn started writing songs when she was about 9. She started playing guitar when she was a freshman in high school and that took her songwriting to an entirely new level. She played her first show when she was a sophomore in high school and Katelyn has been writing and playing music ever since. Anyone she knows and loves is an inspiration to her. There's pretty much a story involving someone in her life behind every song she writes. The people God has surrounded her with are absolutely amazing. The first show she ever played was when she was 15, which she performed along with 3 death metal bands full of 30 year old men. 
Bryan HaradaWhen Bryan grew up, he loved listening to R&B groups like All-4-One & Boyz-II-Men. He would always try and mimic their voices and do the fun little voice slides and things as well. Overall, through my childhood I found my own voice and still love that ol' 90's R&B/Soul. Bryan later started (& still does) writing poems in middle school, which then helped him write fun little raps. Throughout that entire time though, he would write little parts of songs here & there. And that started Bryan with his writing. Bryan loves R&B/Soul and got his inspirations from those 90's groups. He hopes to one day help people with the music he writes. He would also like to one day own his own record label & entertainment group. Kind of like what P. Diddy does, he's an artist and yet owns a label. Something funny about Bryan is well, Andrew and him always seem (when they start getting tired) to slowly transition into a song they call, "I like to go to the beach". More kind of an inside joke though. 
Brian SeeBrian would love to someday work with kids in the ministry or write music for commercials. Other things that interest Brian include: music, snowboarding, surfing, track and field. Something funny about Brian is that he often talks to himself and gets caught sometimes. This is Brian's second year of being apart of CMP as a sound engineer. 
Brynna MurrayBrynna took piano lessons most of her life. She started writing songs in high school, but then she wrote them for the guitar. On the piano, she was so used to playing songs other people wrote that she was stuck in those classical ways, and couldn't really improvise. That changed a bit after Brynna took a position as the keyboardist for a reggae/rock band in Spokane called the RadioArms, and recorded four albums with them. She learned from that experience, and started experimenting with writing on piano in the practice rooms at Washington State when she went to school there. A friend of Brynna's who worked for the school's news station heard her songs and had her play live on their After Hours program. After that, she started playing open mic nights and shows. 
Jordan WareBio coming soon! 
Carl-Eric TangenCarl-Eric has been involved in music almost all of his life, but he started writing at about the age of 10. He thought a lot of it came from being heavily involved in his church growing up. Then when he was about 14, Eric-Carl discovered the Seattle music scene and his musical world opened up from being just what he heard in church or on the radio to suddenly being the best of both worlds. Since then he has been involved in a number of bands, playing, writing, and collaborating with others and developing some sounds and ideas that he think reflect my musical background. 
Roman KolyvanovBio coming soon! 
Stephen ReasonerCurrently a George Fox University graduate, Stephen got interested in playing guitar and singing because his dad played guitar and sang at home and church. Stephen started guitar lessons and started singing and playing guitar around 13. In high school he tried out for the worship band and played and led worship in both junior and senior years. He was also the worship leader at his contemporary service at church for two years. Music has always helped him get in touch and express his own feelings. So, his inspiration comes from his own personal hopes, wants, and fears that cannot be expressed in everyday conversations. It can be an idea, emotion, or just a simple story. |
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