Bio

About Laura

Laura Sullivan grew up in a one-hundred-year-old farmhouse at the foothills of Mount Lassen, in Northern California.

At the time her family moved in, the old home was so rundown that the plumbing and electricity barely worked. The family couldn’t watch TV unless everything else in the house was turned off, or the screen would shrink to half the size.

But there were so many more interesting things to do than watch TV, that didn’t really matter. The eleven acres were a landscape to explore, filled with old broken-down cars, furniture, and ancient junk left behind from days long ago. A rusty clawfoot bathtub filled with muddy water sat in the front yard. Attached to it with duct tape was a hand-painted sign reading "Bard Bath."

But it was her parent's dream to own a farm, and this is what they could afford. Their vision was to transform it into a pleasant and comfortable homestead.

And that is what they did. The family put forth a lot of effort on the project for many years. Their work paid off and it became a nice working ranch with chickens, ducks, cows, horses, pigs, and a throng of feisty cats and friendly dogs. Next to their walnut orchard they nurtured a huge garden of flowers and vegetables. The family reached out to their friends to share the abundance, and the land became a community garden spot shared by many.

Daily escapades on the farm were adventurous. There was a creek that ran through the property in which Laura and her brother and sister would play and swim in the summertime. But with the winter rains it brought dangerous floods over the entire land. Fire was also a threat and there was a time the entire young family awoke in the night to put out a tree fire with a bucket brigade from the creek. Despite the hard work and occasional dangers, the family was content, playful, and blessed with an abundance of love, grace, and gratitude.

Laura's mother Carol was classically trained at the piano and her father John played country guitar and harmonica. John drove his pick-up truck all the way from Weatherford Oklahoma to California to bring home the piano once owned by Laura's Great Grandmother, Etta Purdy. Etta had taught all her five children to play on that piano and was delighted that it stayed in the family. 

Now, with Etta’s piano in the home, every night was filled with music. Laura's mother taught her to play, starting when she was four years old. A few years later, her father began driving Laura all the miles into town each week so that she could have private piano lessons with the distinguished teacher, Ms. Winifred Laymon. And he continued that gift to her of piano lessons for all the years after until Laura left home for college.

Recipient of college scholarships: the Emily A. Hauss Music Award, and the Jane Bowman Jewett Music Award, Laura went on to major in music in college and received a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance.

She has since recorded many albums of original music which frequently chart on Billboard Top Ten bestseller lists, including 'Love's River' which won a Grammy® award at the 56^th annual awards show. What made that momentous day extra special for Laura was that her family was seated in the audience when she went to the stage to receive her Grammy®. 

Laura is a member of the National Association of Recording Industry Professionals and a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (The Grammys®). 

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