For immediate release:
May 28, 2021
BEVERLEE
(FKA ABBY DIAMOND, HITMAKING SONGWRITER, PRODUCER)
SHARES DEBUT ALBUM
PURPLE VIOLIN
OUT NOW
QUEER ALT POP PROJECT HONORS THE LEGACY OF
HER COUSIN'S BEVERLEE, WHO WAS MURDERED
IN THE 1970S AT THE HANDS OF HER HELLS ANGELS BOYFRIEND
AND USES HER VOICE FOR JOY AS RESISTANCE TO PAIN
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"Beverlee, the new solo project of producer/songwriter Abby Diamond, captures your attention and gets you immediately on board... Beverlee is an artist to be on the lookout for." |
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LA-based hitmaker, pop songwriter and producer, BEVERLEE, shares her debut album, Purple Violin, today. The LP's three singles "6X," "White Piano" and "Logic Is Lost" act as a trilogy, with the latter giving fans a first look at BEVERLEE, as she shows up on-screen for the first time for this project. As someone who is typically heard but not seen, as the songwriter and not the performer, this moment is transformative and truly special for BEVERLEE. The video trilogy also nods to Alicia Silverstone / Liv Tyler and the idea of having "video leading lady" because Caroline Blaike is the lead in all three videos. Blaike is an ASL interpreter (Billie Eilish) and dancer (Jumbo's Clown Room).
BEVERLEE is a queer woman, a person who is doing generational healing, and a soul who seeks resistance in the form of joy and sexual freedom -- an opportunity her late cousin, Beverlee Jacobson, no longer has, as her life was stolen in the 1970s at the hand of her Hells Angels boyfriend. The impact murder has on a family is too complicated and painful for words and has caused much shame and trauma in her family, and BEVERLEE seeks to pay tribute with fierce love and unapologetic living. The project is about unheard voices and is a celebration of queer, left-of-center pop. This release is a moment of BEVERLEE stepping into her power as a performer, songwriter and producer in the form of BEVERLEE, as well as a celebration of her rebirth as a gay woman in Los Angeles.
Purple Violin is a celebration of unheard voices and is proudly queer, left-of-center pop. The subject matter is often either a woman who is stuck and seeking to desire something beyond her circumstances or someone coping in the aftermath of change, as any rebirth involves leaving a part of yourself or another person behind. In "Lorena," a lonely woman relishes in the fantasy of a porn star; in "Amelia," a married woman dreams of escaping her grounded, comfortable life for the excitement of flying with the rumored queer Amelia Earhardt. The inspiration stems from Diamond’s own experience of coming out in her marriage and rediscovering her identity and artistic community on the west coast. The production thrives on nostalgia, often weaving in 1940s-60s B-movie samples (“one thing I cannot stand is insincerity” on the anti-love song “We Both Know”) to place the songs’ emotions in a timeless setting.
Formerly known as Abby Diamond, BEVERLEE produced most of the album, and her experience writing music for film/tv and commercials shows as many of the songs have what she describes as “cinematic but janky” orchestral meets pop production. She co-produced a few songs with Matt Mariano film composer who did Grey’s Anatomy, Raising Hope and Bri Holland, vocal arranger for Trolls, Madagascar and numerous pop albums. She brought in friend Dean Reid, the mix engineer behind Lana Del Ray, for final finishing. Chris Camilleri, a recording engineer and producer who has worked on albums and live shows for John Legend, Ms Mr and Sondre Lerche lent his engineering and additional production/drum programming talents on songs We Both Know and Purple Violin. Ryan Kattner, lead singer of Man Man and Honus Honus, lent his co-writing prowess to "Amelia."
Mostly having been behind the scenes as a songwriter, Abby Diamond's music is constantly in the public sphere and enjoyed by millions, often having music in film/TV ads and even touring with major acts like Barenaked Ladies. In 2016, she wrote the hit dance song, “Places,” by Xenia Ghali. Recently, her work with Shea Diamond, a Black trans artist with whom Diamond wrote "American Pie," picked up massive recognition as Joe Biden even danced with her to it at the White House. She also worked on the Son Little (Anti) record Aloha, co-writing the song “about her. again,” which has had placements on various hit shows. She prides herself in working with queer artists and supporting other women, like BIIANCO, Janelle Kroll and vöx. Releasing her debut album right before Pride Month makes for a powerful entry into he music world as a performer.
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Photo of the late Beverlee Jacobson // Courtesy of BEVERLEE | Download hi-res
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TRACKLISTING - Purple Violin LP
01. White Piano
02. 6X
03. Don’t Wanna Leave New York
04. WIP (Work in Progress)
05. Creature of Habit
06. Lorena
07. We Both Know
08. Amelia
09. I Missed Seeing the City
10. Figment
11. I Missed Seeing the City
12. No Medal
13. Purple Violin (Crooked)
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BIO
BEVERLEE fka Abby Diamond got her start as a songwriter and producer touring with Barenaked Ladies and being awarded Best New Writer at the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to co-writing the #1 dance song PLACES, she writes on and has been featured as a vocalist for major labels and her songs have amassed viral streams. The past eleven years, Diamond has composed music for commercials, television, and film, penning songs for HBO, Disney, Nickelodeon, CBS, ABS, MTV and a variety of other networks.
BEVERLEE started in New York, where Diamond lived for thirteen years when she was presumably “straight” and married. Diamond had been working with LGBT artists at the time, notably Shea Diamond (with whom she co-wrote “American Pie”), whose experience of feeling uncomfortable in her body was echoing Abby’s own desire to explore the unknown. In 2017, Diamond came out through her marriage, got divorced, and moved to Los Angeles. While Diamond continued ghostwriting pop music for other artists and film/TV on the west coast, she embarked on writing her own music that was more experimental and rooted conceptually in the loss and rebirth of self that comes with sexual awakening and identity. She named the project BEVERLEE, after her cousin who was a fine artist and murdered by her Hell’s Angels boyfriend in 1970. The album Purple Violin is a celebration of unheard voices and honors those whose desires live on the outskirts of what is deemed culturally acceptable.
Diamond’s second cousin Beverlee Jacobson died October 18, 1970, the same day that Diamond’s sister was born fourteen years later. The murder caused immense trauma in her family, and it wasn’t until Diamond came out, and moved to Los Angeles that she began asking her mother and Beverlee’s sisters about this person, who Diamond was always told looked like her.
Beverlee was a dancer at a strip club in Boston to support herself in college, which is where she presumably met her boyfriend George of the Hell’s Angels. She was an artist and even designed early insignia for the motorcycle gang. Beverlee broke up with George when he started becoming violent and abusive. One evening in October, he went to the apartment she shared in Somerville, MA with single mother Sherrill Simmons and told Sherill and her toddler to go into the bathroom.
“Beverlee had turned her back as he was walking through the door, and he shot her in the back of the head like a coward,” says Diamond, “Imagine being Sherrill with her toddler in the bathroom hearing that gunshot.” He told Sheriil he would kill her and her daughter if they ever gave him up, so when the police came, Beverlee’s roommate did her best to describe the Hell’s Angel’s member (leather jacket, mustache, etc.) but said she did not know him. Much of the story is lost now, says Diamond, and the newspapers’ accounts do not get basic information right of her cousin’s age, death date or name spelling.
The articles at the time describe Sherrill as a “lanky blonde,” and as Diamond said, “essentially slut shame her as some liar, since she was now under witness protection, and they made my cousin out to be some dumb girl who was asking for it too since she was dancing in a strip club to pay her college tuition.” Beverlee’s mother was also a single mom and could only afford a court-appointed lawyer, so the trial lasted about a week according to the family account. George got off innocent, though later was killed by a rival gang four years later.
BEVERLEE's debut album, Purple Violin, is out this Summer and first single, "6X," is streaming on all platforms now. The official music video is also available via YouTube. Stay tuned for more from BEVERLEE.
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