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By 1969 Essra was recording her second album in L.A.
and S.F. for Reprise after Mo Ostin (then Vice Pres.) discovered
her singing at a club in N.Y. and asked her on the spot to come
to the label. The result was “Primordial Lovers”, an LP that
received a 5 star review in Downbeat, raves in Mix, and was
stated as being “one of the best 25 albums ever made” in Rolling
Stone magazine. Unfortunately, these reviews came over a year
after the release of the album and new fans found it hard to
secure the LP due to poor distribution and the sale of the
Reprise label following the release. Nevertheless, this
critically acclaimed musical work continues to generate a cult
following for Essra.Fans and critics rejoiced worldwide when it
was reissued on CD in 2000 by by
Rhino Handmade. She wrote most of the songs while living in
Mendocino, California. While recording the album, Essra married
her producer, Frazier Mohawk, and from that time on was known as
Essra Mohawk. She also sang in a background vocal trio with
Carole King.
Essra’s third album, released in 1974 on
Elektra/Asylum, once again hailed worldwide by music critics in
spite of a lack of promotion, led England’s music magazine, Melody Maker, to
declare it, “the richest and most unheralded event in American
music” that year.
After moving back to Philadelphia
in the 70’s, Ms. Mohawk continued to sing as a session vocalist.
She is especially known for singing on Schoolhouse Rock, the
popular educational and musical cartoon series that continues to
air on TV. Essra’s vocals are on “Interjections”, “Sufferin’
Till Suffrage”, and “Mother Necessity”. After ABC Video
released the cartoons on video* in the 90’s, they received an
upsurge of popularity and the troupe, led by music director, Bob
Dorough, began performing live in the mid-90’s.
A new album on which Essra sang wrote and
produced a track entitled “Do You Wanna Party” about political
parties in the U.S.
was released on Rhino in Sept. ‘98 on an album called
“Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote”.
Ms. Mohawk’s fourth album was released on
Private Stock records in 1976. After the same lack of support
that has kept Essra’s remarkable music in the shadows, she left
the label and moved back to California in 1977. Paul Kantner
wanted her to be the lead singer in Jefferson Starship after
Grace Slick dropped out for a while but he couldn’t convince the
rest of the band to use another female vocalist so they chose a
male, Micky Thomas, instead. In 1980-82 Essra performed as a
background vocalist with the Jerry Garcia Band. During the same
period she co-wrote “Haze” with Bobby Weir and his band “Bobby
and the Midnights” for their Atlantic release. Also, Essra has
collaborated with Al Jarreau, Bonnie Bramlett, Mark McEntee of
the DiVinyls, Eric Bazilian, Al Stewart and Narada Michael
Walden. She sang and recorded with John Mellencamp. (He’d seek
her out wherever she lived for her advice and encouragement.)
Essra’s music and ideas inspired Joni
Mitchell’s “Woodstock” (Essra was scheduled to play at the
original Woodstock, but her manager missed a turn and they
arrived too late. She finally played at the 25th Anniversary at
Bethel.) David Crosby’s “Deja Vu” was inspired by Essra’s song
“I Have Been Here Before”. David would ask her to play it for
him whenever he saw her and then wrote “Deja Vu” as a result.
In 1982, Essra moved back to Philadelphia from
L.A. and was brought into the McFadden & Whitehead
pre-production sessions. She conjured up “Not With Me” overnight
for the duo and they released it on their Capitol album that
year.
Essra recorded two more solo albums in the
80’s. Both were released independently and both were produced by
her, then, husband Daoud Shaw (Van Morrison’s drummer for many
years and original drummer for Saturday Night Live). They first
met during those early days on Bleeker St.
in New York’s Greenwich Village, where she jammed vocally with
jazz greats: Mike Manieri, the Brecker Bros., Eddie Gomez and
Jeremy Steig. As a result her vocal style developed more along
the lines of a wind instrument than that of a typical pop
singer. Being in the Mothers then also helped to propel the
youth to such a creative and original stance as a vocalist.
Essra’s eclectic influences
begin with her parents, Anne and Henry Hurvitz, who sang and
wrote 40’s style standards, and include: Judy Garland, Nina
Simone, The Coasters, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Little
Anthony & the Imperials, Thelonius Monk, Erik Satie, Billy
Holiday, Otis Redding, The Beatles, Ravi Shankar, The Rolling
Stones and Ravel.
*on Kid Video chart over 75 weeks
Essra’s career as a
songwriter took off when Cyndi Lauper recorded “Change of Heart”
in 1986. It went to #3 on Billboard’s top 200 in 1987, winning
an award from BMI for airplay. The album it was on (“True
Colors”) went platinum. Since then many artists have recorded
Essra’s songs and continue to do so. (see list below) The
singer-songwriter’s over 600 songs, have recently been archived
for future releases. Three of her early LPs were reissued on CDs
in
Japan in spring 2003, followed
by her recent tours to California, the East Coast and Japan .
Essra’s first album on CD “Raindance” which was released on
Schoolkids Records
in ‘95 was reissued on Evidence Feb., 2005. Her 1999 CD, “Essie
Mae Hawk Meets the Killer Groove Band”, was remastered and
reissued on Essra’s own label, MummyPump, in 2003. Essra’s been
living in Nashville, TN since 1993 where she continues to write
and record, playing her music on piano, mandolin and guitar. Keb’
Mo’, Steve Cropper and Bonnie Bramlett are among the stellar
performers who joined Essra on her 2003 Evidence CD “You’re Not
Alone”. Her songs were used on the CBS series Joan of Arcadia in
2004 and 2005. “Hotel California” is one of many
books about music that mention Essra.
Her
new CD “Love is Still the Answer” was just released in spring of
2006. One of the first women to explore progressive rock and
pop, Essra is still leading the way.
1964 1st single released
under the name of Jamie Carter on Liberty (titles in text
above)
1966 “I’LL NEVER LEARN” / Shangri-Las/ b-side
of “Sweet Sounds of Summer”
now available on CD “The
Best of the Shangri-Las”/Mercury(1996)#314 532 371-2
1968 “THE SPELL THAT COMES AFTER”/Vanilla Fudge
“Renaissance”LP/ATCO reissued 1998 on CD/Sundazed
Records
1969 1st album released “Sandy’s Album is Here at Last”/ Verve
#V6-5064-X
1970 2nd album released(1st as Essra Mohawk) “Primordial
Lovers”/WB Reprise #6377
1974 3rd album released “ESSRA MOHAWK” w/Maxfield Parrish-like
cover art #7E-1023
1976 4th album released “ESSRA”/Private Stock
Records/#PS2024 on
Elektra/Asylum
1981 “HAZE”/Bobby & the Midnights/Atlantic
Records
1982 “NOT WITH ME”/McFadden & Whitehead, “Movin’ On”/Capitol
EMI #ST-12251
1982 5th solo album “BURNIN’ SHININ’ ”(released unbeknownst to
artist)/ San Francisco Sound #SFS 11810
1985 6th solo album(last on vinyl) “E-TURN”/Eclipse Records
#E0001 [reissued on CD 2005/MummyPump]
1986 “CHANGE OF HEART”/#3 hit single from Cyndi Lauper’s “True
Colors” LP/Epic *platinum
released again on CD
“Twelve Deadly Cyns” in 1994 on Sony/went to #1 on UK album
chart
1988 “INNOCENCE FALLS AWAY”/Eria Fachin/ATCO
1989 “STRONGER THAN THE WIND”/Tina Turner/released on 3
different b-sides off “Foreign Affairs” LP/Capitol EMI
1990 “SO INTENSE”/hit single off Lisa Fischer LP “So
Intense”#5 R&B album chart/Elektra
1991 “HAND OVER YOUR HEART”/Lorrie Morgan “Something in Red”LP/BMG
*platinum*
1992 “ONE STRIKE”/single by Degrees of Motion (Esquire
Records) Top 40 on Dance Charts.
1993 “I’VE HAD IT ALL”/Lowen & Navarro “Broken Moon” CD
Parachute/(Mercury) #314 518 309-2
1994 “CAN’T TURN THE NIGHT OFF”/Annie Haslam of Renaissance
“Blessing in Disguise” CD
(One Way Records #PRO-101)
1995 “BABY’S GOT A HABIT”/Joe Lynn Turner “Nothing’s
Changed”/(Mayhem Records) #CDMFN 189
1995 7th solo album(1st on CD) “RAINDANCE”/(Schoolkids
Records) #SKR 1528
1996 “SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK”/4 CD Boxed Set(incl. 3 tracks
w/Mohawk’s vocals) Kid Rhino
1998 “WHAT’S IT GONNA’ BE”/Rita Coolidge CD “Thinkin’ About
You”/Innerworks FOF-2100-2
1998 “DREAM”/Peabo Bryson “Barney’s Great Adventure-the movie”
(soundtrack CD)
1999 8th album “Essie Mae Hawk Meets the
KillerGrooveBand” (MummyPump) [remastered in 2003]
2000 “PRIMORDIAL LOVERS MM”/ Essra Mohawk (Rhino Handmade)
#RHM2 7720
2001 “INFINITE EYES”/Keb Mo CD “Big Wide Grin” (Sony Wonder) #LK
63829
2001 9th solo album (1st live) “Essra Live
at Genghis Cohen” (MummyPump)
2001 single, “Whatever It Takes” from “Raindance” reissue (MummyPump)
2002 “RAINDANCE” Album Reissue (MummyPump) /released again in
2005 (Evidence)
2002 “SHADOW ON THE MOON”/Julian Dawson “Hillbilly Zen” (Blue
Rose Records) #BLU CD0272
2002 “Riders On The
Storm”/LOVE HER MADLY/CD of Doors songs recorded by Women
Artists (skipping Discs)
2003 10th solo album “You’re Not
Alone” (Evidence) #ECD 28004-2_
2003 “Golden Years”/SPIDERS from VENUS/CD of David Bowie songs
recorded by Women Artists
(SkippingDiscs)
2004 “Steppin’ Out”/DIFFERENT for GIRLS/CD of Joe
Jackson songs recorded by women artists (SkippingDiscs)
2004 “Boy With the Way”/GIRLS
GO ZONK/CD collection of rare US singers of the 60’s (RPM 274)
2005 “Party of Special Things to Do”/MAMA
KANGEROOS/ Philly women sing Captain Beefheart (Genus Records)
2006 10th solo album "LOVE IS STILL THE ANSWER" (MummyPump
MPR-1111)
2006
"To Be Near" was
used on All My Children
Essra’s work has
appeared on Pop, Dance, R&B, Country and Kid Video charts
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