Circa Pict. & Prod. Co. Intnl Inc. (fka CPPD)

[Clutch2005]

http://www.rachelpanay.com/story.html

Rachel Panay

A Washington, D.C. native, the only child of a classical pianist mother, Rachel Panay has been honing her craft since the age of eight. At Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts, she trained formally in voice, dance, and musical theater and wrote her first composition, “Gun of Love", which became WPGC Washington, DC's theme song for its "Stop the Violence" campaign. After graduating from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Rachel's unique style emerged as she became deeply involved in the Boston live music scene, experimenting with the genres of Jazz, Acid Jazz, Pop, R&B, and even Latin Funk. Her original track "Desire" brought her to the attention of Boston based DJ’s and promoters and with their encouragement, Rachel continued to move in the Dance/House direction with follow-up, “Shine On” which garnered an even more enthusiastic response and later landed on Miami’s SFP Records.

Upon attending the Winter Music Conference of 2001, Rachel relocated to Miami to collaborate with several production teams leading to the signing and release of additional original productions “You Make Me Feel” sited in Billboard Magazine as one of the top Dance tracks by an emerging artists, “I Still Want You”, currently on Music Choice’s Dance channel, as well as her first major label appearance on BMG Latin’s remake of Foxy’s “Get Off” currently available on BMG’s Latin Party compilation and Verano 2003. While in Miami, Rachel also performed for the most high profile of events including Winter Party, White Party, Mr. Miami International, Miami AIDS Walk, Aqua Girl and more and had a regular series of performances at Frankie & Johnny’s, The Cactus Club and the Hotel St. Augustine where she presented her originals alongside Jazz standards and uniquely presented covers.

During the fall of 2003, Rachel began to promote the track that would capture the ears and imaginations of dance floors, DJ’s and fans everywhere, “The Walk of Shame”. Written with good friend and collaborator, Steven Billing, the song soon came to the attention of DJ Angelo Kortez whose subsequent Palacio Edit was selected by Rosabel to appear on their Fireball CD compilation on Centaur Records.

But this was only the beginning…DJ Yiannis Elia, resident of Washington, D.C.’s Velvet Nation took the vision to an entirely new level, creating a track that would be for Rachel, the definitive version, a vehicle for her voice and for the persona that she had created to convey the song’s message of an evening’s adventure that ends in humiliation and shame. The underground buzz around the track continues to build here in the States and abroad and “The Walk of Shame” is steadily treading the path to club Anthem status. Two high profile performances of the track at Nation's Love March and Washington, D.C.'s Cherry Party 2005 sealed its fate as a track of and for the people!

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During the fervor surrounding “The Walk of Shame”, Rachel was busy working on a new collaboration with Josh Harris, formerly of renowned remix team, The Passengerz. Their first single, “Back to Love”, is now out on Act 2 Records and is currently #9 with a bullet on the Billboard Dance Chart at the time of this publication.

It was recently featured on DJ David Knapp’s White Party 2 compilation CD, and will also be included on the upcoming Queer as Folk compilation CD on Tommy Boy Records. “Back to Love” is also going strong at radio and retail, and will receive national television exposure through Rachel’s featured performance and interview, filmed a few short weeks ago with Q On the Move, on the Q Television Network, which reaches 6 million subscribers!

With Filtered House, Soulful House, Tribal Anthem, Breakbeat, Circuit House, and Lounge edits, as well a Pop Radio Edit that has already started to cross over onto mainstream radio, “Back to Love” is proving to be Rachel’s bridge to span across the many sub-genres of Dance and be embraced by all audiences.

Recent highlights in support of “Back to Love” include performances at super capacity venues like Washington, D.C.’s Nation, San Francisco’s The End Up, Tampa’s Chrome, New York’s Club Deep, Boston’s Felt, Miami’s Twist and the infamous Banana Café in Paris! Rachel also appears in more intimate venues with her live band where she weaves a magical web of musical versatility, incorporating Jazz, Cabaret, Broadway standards, R&B, Pop and originals.

Drawing comparisons to her influences Kristine W., Amber, and Ultra Nate, Rachel is poised as a leader in the next generation of vocalists and songwriters who believe that Dance music can and should uplift, provoke thought and feeling, speak the truth, and of course make the floor move and club goers sing along!

Rachel currently commutes between Miami, her hometown of Washington, D.C., & New York City. She performs regularly at club venues and events and is recording new material both in Miami and New York.

For a complete listing of shows and appearances visit Upcoming Appearances.