Bio

About the Artist: Lori Nicely is a Washington DC area-based composer, pianist, arranger, songwriter, and producer whose versatile, smooth, lush, and upbeat piano, instrumental, and now VOCALS music “Reach into My Heart” feat. smooth & soulful Billboard artists SELINA ALBRIGHT & ABE LAMARCA) currently on 6 top 100 charts including 11 weeks on the Smoothjazz Network top 100) offers a unique experience and escape. Lori's music has been on Top 10 commercial radio including Adult Contemporary / Smooth Jazz, has charted (“Faithfully LaDonna” - an original music tribute to Donna Summer - 2024 (Smoothjazz Network Top 40), “Somebody” 2023 (Smoothjazz Network Top 100), has been on TV, and used in TV / media awards shows (The Gracie Awards in New York), and in the Peabody Award winning "American Presidents: Life Portraits" series.

 

Her “Best Climate Change” music video got the attention of producers at WaterBear Network, the “Netflix” for environmental videos, who have added her as a composer for potential future projects. With all of Lori’s music, she aims to tell a story. Lori, originally from Alleghany County Virginia, is a natural and developed an ear for quickly recognizing melodies at a very young age (4- 5).

 

She combined an innate ability to hone in on melodies with teaching herself piano (around age 9), to be able to play completely by ear. She began composing around age 12. She was formally trained in trumpet at age 12 and performed jazz, concert, and pop/rock music through high school (Alleghany) and college (Radford), playing in concert, jazz, pep, and symphonic bands, and even played in a backup horn section for a local rock band. Throughout high school and college, she was hired frequently to play piano because she could play the latest hits, not needing sheet music, and created her own arrangements. She also played piano at churches, pageants, weddings, and other local events. Lori also plays guitar.

 

As Lori started to record her music professionally, she realized her true passion is composing music, songwriting, engaging with and showcasing other top talent, and recording. Lori’s music has been compared to pop icon “Hit Man” David Foster, for her strong melodies, lyrical piano, and smooth instrumentation, but modern - for the 21st century. Like Foster, Lori creates and produces fantastic songs, performs piano/keyboards, and brings in other top performers that she hand picks. She worked directly with Foster’s sax player for movie soundtracks and pop hits, David Boruff, who was a featured soloists on several of her earlier tracks, among them “Our Secret” and “When You Are Here”. Lori’s music crosses several genres, ages, and demographics, appealing to audiences in Smooth jazz, pop, contemporary piano instrumental, and film soundtrack. For Lori’s newest 2024 radio single release “Reach Into My Heart”, her PREMIERE vocals single, she features powerhouse vocalists / Billboard artists, SELINA ALBRIGHT and ABE LAMARCA (lead vocals), with acclaimed saxophonist ERIC KNIGHT on backing sax.

 

“I could actually hear (in my head) both Selina and Abe singing on the track before they ever recorded it. I knew their voices would go together beautifully and they would make the song what it is”, Lori recalls. “There were even a couple of phrases that Abe LaMarca sang EXACTLY as I had heard it in my head. It’s an amazing ability to be able to ‘hear’ something before it has been spoken, sung, or played. That ability helped me immensely on this project”.

 

“Reach into My Heart” is a song of “premieres” and brings to the world SELINA ALBRIGHT’s first duet ever and Selina and Abe’s first duet together. This smooth, sexy, and compelling song tells an all too familiar story. Lori’s song has it all – solid melodies, exceptional vocals, smooth instrumentation, compelling lyrics, and a duet that will have you holding your breath to see what happens. Lori's national radio release of “Reach into My Heart” is being promoted via the Smooth Jazz radio format, by Gorov Music Marketing, and has charted on Top 100 charts including Smooth Jazz Network, Smoothjazz.com and RadioWave Monitor Smooth AC/Groove Jazz. Lori continues to create strong melodies and looks to engage performers in Smooth Jazz and pop. 

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