About ME
BRIAN ZACHEK
I am an Acoustic Singer/Songwriter and a professional Music Therapist. In my work, I have seen that nothing reaches a person more deeply or stays with them longer than a great song.
When I was a kid, I would run home from school, turn on my little green AM radio and wait for my favorite Top 40 pop songs. It was the 1970's, and the melodies were wonderful. When I wasn't listening to the radio, I was busy playing old records on my Mickey Mouse Record Player.
In the 80's, I played guitar for my High School Show Choir, and for several musicals in college. I studied classical music and also played and sang in a few jazz groups and other bands.
The 1990's were a very active time for me. I spent my time working as a Music Therapist, writing music, reading lots of Poetry, playing my songs in coffee shops and traveling to learn about the world. There were a few very fun road trips across the U.S.A. with friends along with multiple visits to New York, Chicago, L.A. and San Francisco. I got married in 1997 and have made several trips to Hong Kong, where my wife is from. We have gone to Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle together as well. Before we met, I also spent some time in major European cities like London, Dublin, Paris, Cologne, Rome, Florence, Madrid and Barcelona. There was a strange trip to Jamaica somewhere in there too, but I won't recount the details.
In 2002, one year after the birth of our beautiful daughter and one month after we bought our first house, my wife was diagnosed with the most aggressive type of brain tumor. She was rushed to the hospital for an emergency surgery. Three weeks later, she almost lost her life a second time due to a very rare and severe allergic reaction to one of her treatments. You might be able to imagine how difficult things were for us.
Mysteriously, four years after this crisis, I suddenly became inspired to write songs again after being silent for several years. These are the songs right here on this site. They are better than anything from my past, and I wrote them all in a period of about 2.5 years. They were all recorded in the Blue Bell Knoll Studio in Minneapolis.
Amazingly, my wife's cancer never returned. We considered this to be a miracle, as she was initially given only six months to live. She shared love and music with us for 16.5 years after her illness and peacefully passed on to the next life just after Christmas of 2018. She is deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.
My musical tastes are very wide. I look for good things in every kind of song I have ever heard, or performed.
I especially love The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Damien Rice, Radiohead. Nick Drake, Frank Sinatra, Stephen Sondheim, The Great American Songbook, 80's Indie Rock from the UK, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Bob Marley and Kendrick Lamar are also personal favorites.
When not doing music, you will usually find me with my family and friends, at my favorite Chinese Restaurant, or reading something by Dylan Thomas, Frank McCourt, Flannery O'Connor or Kevin Barry while having a cup of tea. I might also be watching an old movie by Woody Allen, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, John Hughes or the Cohen Brothers. I also Love Blade Runner, Star Wars, Twilight Zone and Black Mirror.
I hope that you enjoy my music and that it is meaningful to you!
Happy listening,
Brian Zachek