Biography

Susan House, Singer and Actress

A passion for singing, an open heart, and a sense of adventure are some of the characteristics that define Susan Houses life so far. Her love for music and performing is a thread thats been inextricably woven into her heart and soul since her childhood in Cottage Grove, Oregon, where both of Susans parents played the piano and encouraged music as recreation. Harmonizing with her mother and sisters, Betsy and Paige, was a frequent activity, and Susan taught herself to play the guitar at the age of fourteen. Although there were periods of her life when performing was more of an avocation than a full time pursuit (Susan House became a psychiatric nurse when she got married), for Susan, the significance of performing continued to deepen with time.

Whether Susan House has created opportunities, or has just been clever enough to capture them in a capricious business, she has pursued every chance to get in front of a microphone since her teens. While still in college she joined a jazz band with her brother and a cousin called the Hugo Eckener Septet, named for a German who ran rescue missions for Jews in Nazi Germany. Susan sang in the band, played guitar, percussion and harmonica, and also marketed the group. The septet implemented a precocious and successful idea to finance a recording through a pre-sale among their peers. The product of that plan, a CD titled Eckeners Landing, features Love, an original song by Susan House. The band broke up after a few years, and Susan left school and started traveling, spontaneously moving based on where her next singing job might be, playing her guitar in coffee houses, etc. Her travels led her from coast to coast, and to Hawaii, where she lived in a jungle hut for a while after her gig ended. Eventually she hung up her grass skirt and returned to the Northwest, settled in Seattle, and immediately got into another band. When she and her boyfriend Tim made plans to marry, she decided to return to school for a nursing degree. She became a psychiatric nurse, part time singer, and mother to children Quinelle and Keaton.

In 1989, thanks to a piece of junk mail advertising, Susan House discovered and nurtured a talent and passion for acting which equals her passion for singing. A post card that arrived in her mailbox advertised a contest, and the prize offered a role in a movie. That post card was a little gift from heaven, Susan blithely recalls. Most people would have tossed it out, but to Susan House, who welcomes the unexpected, the card foretold an adventure. Susan entered the contest, and was smitten by the craft of acting. In the process she developed her talent by attending many professional acting classes throughout the U.S. She signed with an agent, and started landing professional jobs. Today, with roles in film and television, as well as 42 regional and national commercials to her credit, Susan has an active career. She is a member of SAG and AFTRA. and is AEA eligible.

In 2001, a physical injury led Susan to Yogi master Michael Gladych, age 95. He encouraged her to use visualization in her healing process, and the empowerment Susan gained opened up a new direction in her life. Having built a solid reputation as a singer in her adopted home of Seattle, Susan House decided to focus full time on the art and business of performing. One happy result of that effort is the recent release of her first full length CD, MISBEHAVIN HEART, on her newly formed record label SISU HEART. Radio DJs and listeners rewarded her singles, Angel Eyes and Lazy Afternoon with airplay across the country, and with inclusion on such prestigious charts as Friday Morning Quarterback and New Music Weekly. Recorded in Seattle with pianist Randy Halberstadt leading a jazz quintet, each track is imbued with the tenderness of memory, or the excitement of anticipation. The titles and the performances on MISBEHAVIN HEART reflect the joy, versatility and generosity of Ms. House herself. Susan had already grown fond of the recording process through her work on the 2001 release of The Promise, a song she recorded with Phil Seagran in tribute to New York Citys police and firefighters in the wake of September 11th. Although that experience was understandably bittersweet, she felt at home in the recording studio, and that is very much in evidence on the relaxed and swinging Misbehavin Heart.

With MISBEHAVIN HEART completed, and with the blessing of her husband and children, Susan traveled to Los Angeles on an extended fact-finding mission. On the advice of a publicist she had hired, Susan explored the idea of setting up her own record label. Then one evening, in one of those serendipitous moments that Susan attracts like lightning, she read an article in O Magazine that talked about the Finnish concept of sisu: it stands for the philosophy that what must be done will be done, regardless of what it takes, an almost magical quality, a combination of strength, perseverance, courage, and kindness held in reserve for hard times. Susans empathy for the notion of sisu was immediate and personal. She combined sisu with the word heart, and her record label SISU Heart was born. Heart was the nickname given to Susan by her father, and the name of her record label is a tribute to him. During that trip to Los Angeles, Susan also negotiated a distribution contract for Misbehavin Heart with R&D, and the company has placed her CDs nationwide in Tower Records, Wherehouse, FYE, and Hastings Stores. She also secured coveted bookings at The Baked Potato and the Dresden Room, home of the famous kitschy singing duo, Marty and Elaine. The Dresden offered her a show after she persuaded Marty to give up the microphone one night so she could sing a song---something Marty never does lest every other singer in the room request the same privilege. What was the magic phrase that did it? She told him she just wanted to give back the gift! That is a concept that holds great meaning for a woman like Susan, who regularly acknowledges the many little gifts from heaven that have appeared in her life.

Today, Susan reflects on the memory of her mother and father who were both just forty-four years old when they died in a car accident. Susan was in her senior year of high school. My beautiful mother had given up a modeling career when she married my father. She had seven children so she didnt have many moments to herself. Im sure she assumed there would be time to realize some other dreams after her family was grown. I know now that what got me through my parents death and my first year of college was sisu, and that my wanderlust, my personal spontaneity and my desire to establish my independent identity were influenced by my mothers fate. My work as a psychiatric nurse gave me financial independence, for instance, and it also gave me an opportunity to inspire other people to look inside themselves and rediscover dreams or needs they ignored or sublimated. My family and friends, co-workers and even some patients also talked about dreams that were derailed for one reason or another. They saw me continuing to follow my heart through music and acting, fiercely personal activities that I never dreamed of relinquishing. I know that made a big impact on certain people.

Susans near future plans include live performances, and distributing her new full length Christmas CD 'Gifts of the Season' both in the US and through her most recent distributon contract with Mondo Distributions in the Philippines. On this new CD she has included her most recent original single,"Christmas Time" and has also added both original songs, Santas Perfect Gift, (2005) and her 2004 release, The Light Of Christmas on SISU HEART RECORDS.


I want my life to be an example of inspiration to others and encourage everyone to nurture their passion within the gifts each of us are given, so that we may share our talents with others.

Sweet Regards!

Susan House





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