Biography

Anna LaPrad was born and raised in Rock Hill, South Carolina. From a young age Anna has had a deep passion and love for music. “Music has always been the voice of my emotions, it is how I cope with any problems that life throws at me.” says Anna. The youngest of four, Anna looked up to her old brother, John, who sang in his high school chorus. “I remember I used to stand up in the chair at his concerts and tell my mom that one day I was going to sing on that stage,” recalls Anna. At the age of ten Anna started singing in church and began taking piano lessons. Unfortunately, like most kids Anna didn’t want to take the time to practice so she decided to walk away from piano lessons after three years. While her sisters enjoyed watching cartoons, you would find Anna watching nothing, but CMT. Anna states, “Shania Twain was my idol, I even memorized all of the movements to her music video, ‘Any Man of Mine.’” Every Summer, on her family beach vacations, she would go to the arcade and record herself singing a Shania Twain song on cassette. “I even have a CD that I recorded when I was ten years old with eight karaoke songs (majority Shania) that I actually just came across the other day. Of course I gave it a listen and I must say, it is pretty comical,” says Anna.

Once she reached high school Anna joined chorus, the Northwestern Troubadours, who took first place in the SC State Competition three years in a row. After auditioning twice, Anna finally made the all-state chorus her senior year which was a great personal accomplishment. From sight reading music, to performing on the spot, to proper vocal techniques, Anna says she owes it all to her wonderful choral instructor, Mrs. Mixon. According to Anna, “Troubadours was like a huge family and to this day I still feel so honored to have been a part of it.”

After high school Anna attended Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, SC. After her freshman year she decided to transfer back home to Winthrop University. She majored in psychology and minored in music at Winthrop and in August of 2008 she graduated with a B.A. All throughout college Anna took piano classes and in 2006 she decided to take up guitar lessons outside of the university. At 19, Anna bought her very first guitar with her hard earned paycheck. From a young age Anna always enjoyed writing poetry, but once she started playing guitar she focused more on her songwriting.

In the summer of 2006, Anna started singing competitively in and around Rock Hill. After receiving second place in the first two competitions, Anna finally won first place in the Colgate Country Showdown, where she proceeded to compete in the State Competition. Although she did not place at State, Anna still had a lot of fun performing on stage with a live band for the first time. She continued to compete the following summer, taking first place once more as well as second and third several other times.

As Anna had promised herself, in January of 2009, she packed up and moved to Nashville to pursue her dream of becoming a country artist. Shortly after settling in her new home, Anna got a job downtown at the world famous honky tonk, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, where she played up to six or seven shows a week. She also spent the majority of the summer singing at the Tootsie’s in Panama City Beach, Florida. Although she is no longer singing at Tootsies, Anna continues to play, acoustic and full band shows, in the Nashville area.

Anna, having only been in Nashville for two and half years, is still fairly new in the music business and continues to learn everyday. She has already managed to build a large fan base, having people come back to watch her perform every day of their vacation. Her fan base seems to be growing even more now with the release of her first self-titled album, which is available now on iTunes and Amazon. The album consists of eight original songs, four of which were co-written with her best friend who is also a singer/songwriter, Hali Hicks.

Toting around her new Martin guitar, Anna is busy playing gig after gig downtown and during her spare time she is constantly writing and practicing guitar. Now that her album is available to the public, things are starting to pick up for this young aspiring country artist.