Silver Nightingale

• Genres: New Age

Biography

Gifted flutist, composer, and singer Laura Sue Wilansky is known by her fans as "the Silver Nightingale". She was born in Bethlehem -- well, Bethlehem, PA, that is. Her parents have a great love for music and that is something they shared with their children. Wilansky grew up constantly exposed to radio and records, family sing-alongs, and trips to see Broadway musicals and concerts. Her study of music was also set in motion early in her life; in second grade she began taking piano lessons -- a year later it was the flute. Through most of her school years, Wilansky was either a member of a band or an orchestra. All of that experience helped her get comfortable in front of large audiences and allowed her to gain the confidence and tough skin needed for a professional career in music. By college she was performing in coffeehouses and with the university choir. During those early years she got to practice many different genres and styles of music.

After college Wilansky kicked her career into overdrive, performing whenever she could at gigs that varied from festivals, to concerts, to churches, sometimes performing solo, sometimes with a band consisting of members like Ramon Justicia, Bill Meredith, and Jim Seidel. When not performing, she found work as everything from a waitress to a computer programmer. She has also done a lot of charity work, donating a good bit of her early profits to organizations like the Gold Coast Hospice.

Some of the tracks from Wilansky's 1999 debut album, Sarabande – Solo Flute Meditations, are "Native Nightingale," "Salute to the Sun," and "Oriental Expression." The album was originally released on tape in 1997 and titled Music for Healing and Meditation. At the end of 2000, she began working on her next album, Return to Avalon. ~ Charlotte Dillon, All Music Guide