Holly Penfield, a luminary on the London jazz cabaret scene for fifteen years, is a native of San Francisco . She began singing at the the age of 12, trained by the legendary vocal coach Judy Davis who coached Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Holly began her career singing Burt Bacharach songs at a topless nightclub in San Francisco, with girls wearing little but veils dancing around her as she sang "The Look of Love".
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO "The Days and the Hours" - Holly's first song written at the age of 12.
Moving to Los Angeles, singer/songwriter talent secured three record contracts, the most noteworthy being the records she made with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn (producers for Pat Benatar, Blondie, The Knack, Suzi Quatro, Exile, and Tina Turner). She recorded five albums of her own material, with one song reaching the Top 100 in the American charts. Many of the aspects of her rock 'n roll sensibilities Holly applies to her jazz cabaret performance.
Holly, like Josephine Baker, was lured by the European mystique, but made her career in London rather than Paris. Achieving great success as a jazz cabaret singer, she appeared at Pizza on The Park, Cafe de Paris, Beach Blanket Babylon, Pizza Express, China Jazz, and Scott's on Mount Street - where she was, (like Sally Bowles) the toast of Mayfair!
She has also performed for Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the opening of a major London film studio, wowing guests including the Lord Mayor of London. She has twice headlined major dinner concerts for 250 guests at the Savoy Hotel, playing a two-hour concert with a 12-piece band, and has sung in many prestigious London hotels including the Lanesborough, The Landmark, The Mandarin Hotel in Knightsbridge and The Ritz (at a private party for Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson). She currently in residency at The Dorchester on Park Lane, where she has recently been seen by Shirley Bassey, Lionel Ritchie and Kate Moss. Other notables Holly has sung for include Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Boy George, George Michael and Michael Jackson, with whom she performed at the 1996 Brit Awards. Holly has twice played New Year's Eve galas at the Millennium Hotel in the restaurant of famous BBC TV chef Brian Turner.
In addition to public performances, she has done hundreds of exclusive private parties all over England and Europe . She is booked regularly by the top agents in London , for hotels, private parties and other events. She recently was a headliner for a two-week Princess Cruise down the Mexican Riviera.
In London Holly has blazed a trail (in high heels!) on the lively cabaret and burlesque scene. Many performers have followed in her high-heeled footsteps at venues Holly launched. Those include the Soho Revue Bar, Volupte Supper Club and the historic Cafe Royal. In the huge London Hippodrome in Leicester Square Holly participated in the "Miss Alternative World " pageant, wearing wild costumes by a designer inspired by her electric stage presence. Holly is often hired for her creativity with elaborate costumes to fit special themes, including a recent show in historic vaults underneath London Bridge for an event built around "Dante's Inferno" illustrating the seven deadly sins. In addition to performing in upmarket establishments, she also has a fondness for appearing in unorthodox venues including wine cellars, boats and hot air balloons.
Holly has toured Europe extensively. She has performed at ski resorts in the Alps , at a Russian art gallery in St Moritz (alongside Faye Dunaway, Jacqueline Bissett, Michael York and Geraldine Chaplin,) in an amphitheatre in Sicily and in many a chateau for French farmers. In Norway she conducted a 13-city tour culminating in a concert in Oslo . European credits include music festivals in France , Italy and Germany , gigs in Istanbul , Munich , Copenhagen , Tel Aviv and Tokyo (at the enormous Budokan Theatre where she competed in the Yamaha Song writing Festival, winning a motorcycle!) She has appeared with her quartet at Cairo 's legendary Mena Hou Oberoi Hotel, at the base of the Keops Great Pyramid, singing swing at the El Khalifa Room.
Holly has appeared at the world renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she presented her original and critically acclaimed show "Fragile Human Monster" which was recorded as a CD in 1992. Holly returned to play the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005 and 2006, garnering glowing reviews from the UK press for her shows Holly's Hot Spot and Both Sides Now -- the latter performed in a historic Masonic temple, a block from Edinburgh Castle . For this she won "Best Singer of the Fringe 2006" Award from Fringe Report.
Holly herself is a fine pianist whose serious song writing talents come to the foreground in her original compositions on her most recent CD "Both Sides Now" and the previous "Le Jazz Hot" recorded live at Pizza on the Park.
Having developed her jazz / cabaret act in London and Europe , Holly Penfield now turns her attention to her birthplace and the American market. She is ready to try out her European act in American venues and hopes to cast the same bedazzling spell on enthused audiences.
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