Essra Mohawk | Artist

Sandra Hurvitz aka Essra Mohawk is an American singer-songwriter born 1948 in Philidelphia, PA. At the age of sixteen she cut her first record, "The Boy With The Way", credited as Jamie Carter and issued on Liberty Records. As Sandy Hurvitz, she was then discovered by Shadow Morton, who placed her songs with the Shangri-Las ("I'll Never Learn") and the Vanilla Fudge ("The Spell That Comes After"). While living in New York City in 1967 she met Frank Zappa and fell in with the Mothers of Invention entourage, performing for a short time as a backup singer. Zappa signed her to his Bizarre Records label and she released her first album Sandy's Album Is Here At Last, in December 1968, featuring Ian Underwood from the Mothers as producer. In 1970, now on Reprise Records, she released her second album, the cult classic Primordial Lovers, which was later stated as being "one of the best 25 albums ever made" in Rolling Stone magazine. The album featured contributions from CSN&Y drummer Dallas Taylor and former Rhinoceros members Doug Hastings and Jerry Penrod. Essra nearly joined Rhinoceros in its original line up. While recording the album, she married her producer Frazier Mohawk and from then on was known as Essra Mohawk. She went on to release a total of 11 studio albums and write several hit songs including "Sufferin' Til Suffrage", "Interjections!" and "Change of Heart", recorded by Cyndi Lauper, and "Stronger Than the Wind", recorded by Tina Turner. Standout albums include Sandy's Album is Here at Last!, Primordial Lovers, Essra Mohawk, E-Turn and Revelations of the Secret Diva.

Artist Website: essramohawk.com

Featured Albums: Essra Mohawk

Related Artists: Sandra Hurvitz, Frank Zappa, Mothers of Invention, Rhinoceros