ABOUT RENÉE

 

 

 

Once in a lifetime
You hear angels sing
A tune so familiar
As strange as it seems
 -Renée Snyder, 2004


 

  • about renée

If the size of an artist’s audience is any gauge of their success, then it is safe to say, Renée Snyder is a megastar. For nearly two decades, millions of television viewers in America and other countries have heard her sweet and compelling voice. Nearly every day; for every hour; in nearly every city somewhere in the world, Renée’s voice rings loud and clear in homes and car radios around the globe.

There is only one problem: none of these listeners have any idea who Renée Snyder is, and she doesn’t consider the music they’re listening to as an example of her own artistic expression. This is because Renée, (along with her husband, Craig) owns and operates one of the most successful music agencies in today’s highly competitive international advertising industry. Their music, many featuring Snyder’s unique voice, have been featured in hundreds of award winning TV and radio commercials produced for such corporate giants as American Express, IBM, Jaguar, Mercedes, Bank of America, Saturn and many others. The duo have won multiple ADDY and Clio Awards for their work over the last two decades.

An accomplished musician, a successful businesswoman, with a son and daughter; a solid, happy marriage and a lucrative lifestyle, it would appear that Snyder had done it all, and now, had it all.

Not so.

By the time she had reached her mid 40’s, she was swept up in a whirlwind of self-realization. “I knew that I had been living exactly the way many women in my generation had been expected to live. We were all kind of lost between The Donna Reed Show and Ms Magazine. I raised two great kids, been supportive of my husband and his career and then, later on, started a successful business with him. Many of the traditional values were things I believed in. However, now I discovered a whole creative side of me that had been completely repressed. I decided that it was time to be recognized for my talents and I could finally devote the time I needed to do something creative for myself.”

For Renée Snyder, it all came pouring out through a collection of her own reflective and introspective music.

Today, a few years later, Renée is now about to embark on a new career opportunity, performer and recording artist. With the release of her own debut album, Once In A Lifetime, Renée Snyder is finally embracing another side of her creative expression, one that is more personal than the countless ad jingles and corporate themes. Says Snyder, “This album is my honest attempt to transform my life into a form of artistic expression that can be enjoyed by all music fans. Singing has always been my passion, but I wanted to record material that was longer than the 30 and 60 second music beds I did for the advertising projects we developed. That’s why I had to create and release Once In A Lifetime.”

Once In A Lifetime is a testament of true stories and life lessons as told by a woman who has lived a full and interesting life. "By the time I started writing these songs, I had a lot to write about and a lot of experience from being in the music industry."

To make the recording, Renée looked to her husband’s musical genius as a producer and arranger. A world class guitarist for the likes of Elton John, Roberta Flack and Diana Ross, Craig and Renée enlisted some of New York’s top musicians for the sessions, including Eric Weisberg/Steel Guitar (Art Garfunkel, Bob Dylan), Mark Egan/bass (Pat Metheny, Joan Osborne), Shawn Pelton/drums (Saturday Night Live Band, Sheryl Crow), Kevin Bents/keyboard and guitar (Jewel, Donald Fagen), and Barry Miles/keyboard (Roberta Flack, Al DiMeola).

“Once In A Lifetime is another chapter in what has thus far been a life that has been very interesting and very rewarding. There have been peaks and valleys, as with everyone, but I tried to learn from my experiences, and in the end, was able to put it in this form of musical expression. This is my story."