Linda Bonadies - Powerful Songwriter!: Press/Reviews

CD BABY

I love your “No Regret” CD so much I’m going to feature it on the FRONT PAGE of CD Baby for a few days. We’re REALLY PICKY ABOUT WHAT GOES ON THE FRONT PAGE. We get about 75 new albums a DAY coming in here now, (about 30,000 total), and yours is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

REVIEW: "Perfect adult contemporary soft rock that explodes right from the first track. Tapping into the work of Carole King, Karen Carpenter, Jann Arden, Elton John and more, her music flowers with a clear, distinct and committed sound - her songs proudly sing out with conviction, push ahead with a solid and “I know where I’m going” sentiment. Built solidly on thumping piano lines that take the lead through the harmonic textures, endowed with her vocals and plenty of rhythm and guitar, “No Regret” is an album that catches the ear, no matter which track you start with." (Tamara Turner of Cd Baby)

Love ya!

Derek Sivers
CD Baby

TAXI

you have a great feel for the classic pop song. I’m sure you’ve been compared to Carole King many times but I’ve just gotta say it again. This is quite a compliment, of course! Strong, well crafted songs in the Carole King/Billy Joel pop style. Solid vocals and outstanding musicianship.

HEAVEN MAGAZINE, The Netherlands Translated by Peter van der Sluijs

“I heard Doin’ time, the marvelous opening track of No Regret from Linda Bonadies...a beautiful uptempo piano riff combined with a strong swinging track marked with Big notes as HIT! Also several other tracks, like Buried alive, Undone at the Seams, Soak Up the Rain and Our Town brought with their passionate, open chords and surprising melancholic turns....the quality of her songs and her passionate recital even then stay at an extraordinary high level and that she absolutely can be called a welcome addition to the modern music, and at least as a songwriter can score high in a commercial way of speaking.”

GREAT INDIE MUSIC

Linda does a great job on this cd. It is simply fantastc!

ELIJAH SAINT

From one musician to another, all I have to say is that you kick ass Linda. I love every single song on your album. However I must admit track 5 "Boys Will Be Boys" is a number one selling hit. Keep up the great work Linda on your songwriting and music. Hope to see you one day on the Grammys.

INDIE ACOUSTIC PROJECT

"Doin’ Time" from the CD No Regret by Linda Bonadies has been selected as one of the “Songs of Note,” which features 10 outstanding songs from 2004. The selection process for the multitudes of CDs we considered was both heartening and difficult. We were privileged to experience hundreds of outstanding CDs, but we were only able to award recognition to the top 42 CDs plus the 10 other great songs from 2004 (yours among them). Each song recognized in the “Great Songs of 2004" is (and you may quote us) “one of the best songs of 2004.”

PACIFIC SONGWRITING COMPETITION

“Doin’ Time” wins prize money as one of the HOT PICKS WINNERS!

PEACEDRIVEN SONGWRITING COMPETITION

"Friend Like You" wins Honorable Mention. "Friend Like You" has a cool upbeat sound and the message of friendship is an uplifting one. The song is memorable and well done.

"Deep Inside of Me"

Local soft-rock musician finds her way and is working on a second CD

By Erin Elfeldt

Happily married, the mother of three and a graduate degree in music under her belt, Linda Bonadies thought she had it all. Well, almost all. The Hamden woman said something was missing. Then she made a self-discovery that changed her life.

“I can’t tell you where I was or what triggered it. I just remember in a moment it became so clear. It was deep inside of me, it had been there for so long and I didn’t know it,” she said.

In college, she studied to become a composer, but didn’t find it as rewarding as she thought.

“It was very frustrating because I would spend hours working on a piece, and then someone else would take on the role of sharing it with the public and it would sound nothing like how it had sounded in my head,” said Bonadies, 43.

So she pushed aside music, thinking it was either composing or nothing for her, and took a job doing publicity for the Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford. Then the kids came and she left Bushnell to become a fulltime mom.

But Bonadies said she started getting sick a lot, felt lost and became depressed. “I was struggling and slowing losing who I was,” she said.

Then she sat down at the piano again. And things started to change.

In spring of 2001, she said she realized it was in her music where she would find herself. Slowly, Bonadies said the prison walls built by the stressors of life began to fall. The daily grind became more pleasant and her inner spirit was given a chance to breath, she said.

“A lot of my songs are about self-discovery after getting tangled in life for too long, that you have forgotten how to live,” the local musician said.

Just months after Bonadies began her new career of songwriting, 9/11 happened. As a native of Summit, N.J., not far from New York City, she said she felt connected to the tragedy that took about 3,000 lives.

“It seemed like everyone I talked to either knew someone who had lost someone, or lost someone themselves. I was a songwriter now and I knew I needed to write to write a song about it” she said.

Two weeks after the terrorists’ attacks, Bonadies made her first public performance. She sang her 9/11 tribute song, “Our Town,” at her church, Dunbar United Church of Hamden.

Today, she said she dedicates eight hours a day to her work when her kids are at school. Her studio is in a small local church with a piano.

“It is just so peaceful here and the acoustics are great. I feel empowered. It is a great creative atmosphere for me,” she said.

Although Bonadies said she still battles stage fright, it is something she is determined to overcome to be able to connect with her audience.

“My success is measured on my ability to connect, it gives me a personal sense of fulfillment when I can bring people to that place I am in the song,” she said.

Her desire to connect is evident in her first CD titled “No Regret,” which includes 10 of her original songs, resembling a soft-rock genre. Her message is “no regret,” which she hopes will inspire those who listen to her music. She’s currently working on a second CD.

Although most who have bought her first CD live in Connecticut, Bonadies said it’s gone abroad. A British cab driver wrote to her saying, “To be honest, I have not been able to remove it from my car. Listening to your album over the last few months has really helped me out to no end. Thank you.”

For more information about Bonadies, visit www.lindabonadies.com.

Bonadies reflects on musical growth

By: Colleen Redmond
10/13/2006

"It was a spiritual moment, I had no idea what was wrong, and in a moment I realized I was supposed to be writing songs," she said, "It was such a powerful moment."
Bonadies said that while it has been the music of singers like Carole King, Elton John and Billy Joel that have helped to influence her style; it was the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, that compelled her to write the song which is the title cut on her C.D., released last year, titled "Our Town."
"A couple of months before 9-11, I heard the voice in my head that told me I would be a songwriter," said Bonadies. "We also had a family friend that had died on 9-11, but everybody I knew, knew somebody who had died."
After writing "Our Town," Bonadies, who is a resident of Hamden, was invited to perform locally.
"My first music appearance was at my church," she said. "I had very positive feedback." She later was invited to appear at the first-year anniversary vigil of 9-11, held by the town.
Bonadies said that she has changed some of the original words to the song, which she described as "graphic."
"I actually tuned it down, a lot of people had to leave, because they couldn't hear it."
The 43 year-old Bonadies said that after years of feeling a sense of loss in her own life, and many personal struggles, writing music and singing have had a very healing effect in her life, and she feels encouraged to go forward in her music career.
"I hired this guy, Jeff Cannata, he has a studio right here in Hamden. He was a drummer in a big band, "Jasper Wrath;" I had some friends, who told me about him, and we started recording, he produced it and we hired studio musicians. It was a thrill, a great experience."
There are 10 songs on the compact disc, which Bonadies said has "done well," including "Buried Alive, No Regret, and "A friend like you."
Samples of Bonadies music can be found on her Web site at www.lindabonadies.com, or at Cdbaby.com