Nancy Atlas -- An American Girl
by Jennifer Fong

"If you're blessed enough to find something that you can get excited about, that excites other people, you have to follow it." Singer/songwriter Nancy Atlas has always been one to go all the way with her projects. From traveling across Europe, to her music, she has followed her dreams. This east-coast native started expressing herself through music at the age of 11. Atlas fondly remembers her eighth-grade talent show debut as a songwriter. She lost touch with her musical side for a period during her formal education, attended college in London, first at Cambridge, then, to expand her curriculum, at Richmond International College, and toured Europe as part of her art/art history major. Unhappy with her career options, she decided to go shopping in downtown London, where she spotted a hole-in-the-wall pawnshop, went in, and purchased her first guitar. It was a new beginning for her reshaping her entire outlook, "I had always wanted to play guitar and this was a rite of passage for me." She was 21 years-old then, now, at the age of 26, she has a strong following of fans in the nightclub circuit of Long Island and has opened for Richie Havens, Patti Larkin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Mary Black.

She sees herself primarily as a songwriter, performing songs about her experiences, views, and the truth that she finds in things, "People want to be able to relate. I don't write thinking about what people will think or what they will get out of it. I'm looking for a more interesting angle, something that says something about me or about the interesting juxtapositions or conflicts I see around me. I take a painting approach to it and go abstract. I try to express something I'm going through, it comes from some place deep inside, people can relate to that." Expression is at the heart of her music and her purpose in life. She wants people to see the truth that she sees in life, love, and the world.

She relates her quirky writing habits that stem for her perfectionist attitude, "I mostly write in the car, something disengages and the next thing you know I'm pulled over on the side of the road, with the hazard lights on scribbling on whatever I can find." Atlas also expressed her need to be original in her writing, making the process all the more important to her, "How are you going to get something, some emotion out of it, if you don't care about the writing." For Atlas, her power and self-expression lies in her lyrics.

Performing is an important part of music for Atlas, giving her an opportunity to experience the power of her words on people. "I'm not afraid of the failure or perfection because a lot of times beauty comes in imperfection, or the things you don't have control over. It's all about connecting with people, experiencing the circle formed through the performance." Atlas struggles with the music industry and where it might lead, but her optimism continues along with her determination to follow her dreams, "There's no chance of ever getting out of this, no matter where it leads."

She felt that the present is an important time for developing performers, "This is an independent time for musicians, making their own roads. This time is open for musicians to learn, and they're developing into artists, breaking away from the old roads and making new ones." Because of the atmosphere in the industry, Atlas is determined to make it, "I don't want to wait, I'll trek out the independent road." She feels the time is right. Atlas has lived as she set out to do; she heard her calling and followed it. As she says in her song "American Girl," "Take this night like it's the last night you'll ever see/Taste this night like it's the last in the world," her unquenchable optimism and determination has brought her this far.

She plans to release her first album in January '98, a self-produced project being her goal and giving her as much control over the music as possible. Audiences will remember her for her folksy guitar strains, her bluesy/rock sound, and her unparalleled spirit. But, most importantly, "I want people to remember me for my truthfulness, the purity it comes from, and most of all because I love it."

- Jennifer Fong