| Name | Julia Nunes |
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| Landscape | |
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| Background | Singer, Song-writer, Mutli-instrumentalist |
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| Birth name | |
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| Alias | "jaaaaaaa" |
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| Born | January 03, 1989 |
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| Died | |
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| Origin | Fairport, New York, United States |
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| Instrument | Ukulele, Guitar, Melodica, Piano, Vocals |
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| Voice type | |
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| Genre | Acoustic pop, indie music |
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| Occupation | |
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| Years active | |
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| Label | Rude Butler Records, DFTBA Records |
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| Associated acts | Jack Conte, Nataly Dawn, Pomplamoose, Greg Holden, Ben Folds, Lauren O'Connell |
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| Url | junumusic.com |
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| Current members | |
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| Past members | |
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| Notable instruments | |
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Julia Nunes (born January 3, 1989) is a singer and songwriter from Fairport, New York. Her career has progressed online through her videos of pop songs on YouTube in which she sings harmony with herself and plays acoustic instruments, primarily the ukulele, guitar, melodica and piano.
Biography
Nunes was born into a musical family in
New York. Her father is a pianist and a composer of children's songs. One grandfather was a composer of Portuguese
fado music and the other a
jazz pianist. Nunes started
piano lessons at age seven before switching to the guitar in her teens. She started writing songs at age 14 and began playing the ukulele in 2005. She also plays
guitar and
melodica. She indicated in the comments section of one of her YouTube videos (see below) that she holds dual USA-Portuguese citizenship.
Work
YouTube videos
Nunes is known for her videos on
YouTube. Among them are original songs, as well as covers of some of Nunes' favorite bands, such as
Say Anything,
Spoon,
The Beatles,
The Beach Boys, and
Destiny's Child. Her original songs have been featured on the main page of YouTube twice, under the username 'jaaaaaaa', which she says was the result of holding down the "a" key randomly after the "j" key, the first and last letters of her first name.
On Good Morning America (June 30, 2008) Molly Ringwald said that she took up the ukulele after seeing Julia Nunes on YouTube. "I've always wanted to play the ukulele, and she completely inspired me," she said.
Recent work
She opened four times for one of her idols,
Ben Folds in May 2008 at the piano player's request and performed at the Bushman Ukulele Luau in May 2008 after having won the 2007
Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest. She recently performed at The Knitting Factory in New York. On October 25, 2008, she opened for
The Bacon Brothers at The State University of New York at Geneseo. On November 22, 2008, Nunes performed her song "Maybe I Will" on
YouTube Live '08 in
San Francisco. She was joined onstage by The YouTube Ukulele Orchestra, which is composed of fellow YouTube ukulele players Wade Johnston, Dustin Domingo, Philip Fernandez, and Narciso Lobo. In January 2009 Nunes played four sold out shows in London, England, and was interviewed and performed on BBC Radio 1. In June 2009, she played two shows, and participated in the artist signing tent, at
Bonnaroo, the independent music festival in Manchester TN, and a second tour of England. She began recording her third CD of original music in August 2009. , working with
Jack Conte and
Nataly Dawn of
Pomplamoose as producers.
Julia played at Bonnaroo 2010, her second time there, Nunes started the event on the main stage at noon 11th June 2010 and also played alongside Weezer on the second night.
Charity work
In December 2008, Nunes participated in the Vlogbrothers'
Project4Awesome. Rather than tell YouTubers to donate time or money to a charity, she offered one of her hand-knit hats on eBay, promising to donate the proceeds of the auction, and her own matching funds, to the
Lupus Foundation of America. After a bidding war, the hat sold for
US$1,250.00, to Kenny West, a musician from Philadelphia, PA. When she realized the amount she'd have to contribute to match this sum, she asked her viewers to help her make the donation, promising
US$500.00 of her own money.
Discography
Left Right Wrong
Nunes' first CD
Left Right Wrong contained all original compositions and was released in the summer of 2007. It was released independently, published by Junu Music (
ASCAP), on Nunes' label Rude Butler Music. Following YouTube success, as of June 2008 Nunes arranged a distribution deal for
Left Right Wrong with
Burnside Distribution Corporation, and the album can now be purchased through some mainstream sources. The 12 tracks (10 studio, two live) were recorded with just guitar and voice, without the overdubs which feature in her YouTube videos. The video of her song "Into the Sunshine" from the CD has over 2 million views on
YouTube.
Tracks:
#Intro
#Into the Sunshine
#Indecisive
#Happy Medium
#Balloons
#I'm Not Good
#A Century
#Still In the Room
#Blushing Cheeks
#One Clock
#Dolar Tree (Live)
#Into the Sunshine (Live)
I Wrote These
"I Wrote These", was released on October 15, 2008 containing original compositions by Nunes, except for Track 12 "Sugar Coats" which was co-written with her friend and fellow musician Kirk Stevens. Like her first album, "I Wrote These" was released on her Rude Butler Music label and copyrighted to JuNu Music. The album was tracked and mixed at Studio Arts Entertainment and Hilltop Recording in Greenwich, NY by Peter Kobor and Chris Roberson. The album features mostly acoustic tracks, although she is joined on a few songs by a full band (including Todd Haviland on bass and Dave Harris on drums). Guest vocalists include Dan Gocek, Kirk Stevens, and Andy Martin. Other musical accompaniment includes
whistling,
finger snapping and
beatboxing. "I Wrote These" was mastered by Steve Forney at the studios at Linden Oaks, in Rochester, New York.
Tracks:
#Maybe I Will
#Into the Sunshine
#First Impressions
#Binoculars
#Pen to Paper
#Short and Sweet
#Welcome Vacation
#You Were
#Stairwell
#Regrets
#Odd
#Sugar Coats
#Roles Reversed
#The Debt
I Think You Know
She began recording her third CD of original music in August 2009. , working with
Jack Conte and
Nataly Dawn of
Pomplamoose as producers. The album was released on
iTunes on February 2nd 2010 through her own record label Rude Butler Records.
Tracks:
#I Think You Know
#Grown A Pair
#Through the Floorboards
#August
#Comatose
References
External links
Official Site
Covers Archive of all of her covers
Category:1989 births
Category:Living people
Category:American Internet personalities
Category:American singer-songwriters
Category:American guitarists
Category:Internet memes
Category:Musicians from New York
Category:Ukulele players
Category:YouTube video producers
Category:American people of Portuguese descent
Category:American multi-instrumentalists
Category:American singers
Category:American songwriters
Category:American pianists
Category:Melodica players
Category:People from New York
