Singer/songwriter
Sierra Swan's voice can easily be compared to the smoldering vocal richness of
Linda Perry,
P!nk, and
Fiona Apple. As the daughter of guitarist
Billy Swan, she and her sister
Planet followed in their father's footsteps and learned the trade of performing early on.
Sierra played at various coffee houses as a teenager and landed a residency at Goldfinger's in Hollywood at 18. In 1997, she and fellow Scotsman
Graham Edwards (bass) formed the electronic pop act
Dollshead. The duo released
Frozen Charlotte in 1998 before being dropped by
MCA.
Swan's creative aspirations were still intact; she contributed vocals to
Cold's
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage and
Year of the Spider albums and collaborated with
the Neptunes'
Chad Hugo before signing a solo deal with Atlantic. While writing and recording material for her debut album,
Sierra's mother took ill and passed away. It wasn't long before
Swan once again found herself without a label. A chance meeting with songwriter
Linda Perry got things back on track; throughout 2005 the two wrote and recorded material for her first proper album, and
Ladyland was released on Interscope in spring 2006. The album featured guest vocals by
Aimee Mann and additional production work by
Bill Bottrell (
Sheryl Crow,
Elton John).
Swan followed that album with an EP release in 2007 entitled Coward, as well as issuing digital albums, including 2008's Queen of the Valley and 2009's Girl Who Cried Wolf. In 2014 she returned with Good Soldier, an album produced by
Smashing Pumpkins leading man
Billy Corgan and mixed by
Bjorn Thorsrud. ~ MacKenzie Wilson