zara iris is a recording artist that hails from the 'burbs outside of philadelphia, pennsylvania. she was born in 1986 and began composing music by the age of three. her first piece was entitled "vi-buh-ray-ting" and consisted of the banging of fists against the piano keyboard while repeating the enlightened mantra:

VI-BUH-RAY-TING
VI-BUH-RAY-TING
EV-RY-THING-IS
VI-BUH-RAY-TING

everyone was sure that z would become a huge success.

by the age of 5, z had begun piano lessons and was quickly learning how powerful music could be. at age 12, z began to study the violin, while simultaneously continuing to concentrate on the piano. guitar came next when z was about 14. as soon as the instrument was in her hands and her fingers moved smoothly and easily over the polished neck, she knew it was meant to be.

z recorded her first song at the age of 15. it consisted of two chords, played rather badly, and a monotonous melody line that really was not made any better by the angsty lyrics that accompanied it. but it was a song, and she played it over and over again until her throat ached and her fingers turned red. and then...she smiled. and played it again. and the tiny spark - one that had been started by the mixtapes her sister made with independent artist and girls with guitars - began to flicker. that summer the first real song was recorded, entitled "fallen."

as z's hands and voice continued to grow, so did the output of songs. z soon discovered an old, beat-up, low-tech computer microphone in her dad's office and used major geek power to set it up on the computer. using a horrible program with terrible recording quality, z's first album was created in 2001 and called "Characteristic of Me," and featured "fallen" as its title track.

by march 2002, z had discovered a real passion for this singer/songwriter thing, and had recorded a second album entitled, "All That You Wanted To Say." the quality was terrible, yet again, and z knew that something had to be done. with a pirated copy of a better program and an upgraded microphone (courtesy of the parental figures), a third album was recorded, "Shiner," in December 2002. the fourth album, called "In Focus...Out of Line" was released in September, 2003.

may of 2004 was spent fixing up a small music room at z's high school and turning it into a makeshift recording studio. here, z was able to use much higher-quality recording equipment (compared to the computer mic and speakers of her room at home) as well as the protools recording program. as a result, z released her fifth and latest album: "Exhale Metamorphosis." the quality is the best it has ever been.

z plans to return to the studio within the next month, as she has a new album in the works. for information on any album or instructions on how to order one, send an e-mail to:

zara dot iris at gmail dot com.

and of course, z is always looking for ways to get her music out there, so if you have an opportunity or know of one, please pass the word along and spread the music!