Wendy Repass was born Gwendolyn Noel Repass to an American father
and Taiwanese mother. At the age of five, Repass began the study
of classical piano at her mother's insistence. Living in a military
family, she moved often. But even with the discontinuity of home
life, there was always music and listening to the radio became
a passion.
In 1990, at the end of
her first year at University
Of Virginia, Repass suffered the loss of her mother to cancer.
In that period of devastation and pain, friends introduced Repass
to the folk music of the
Indigo Girls. Inspired by this group's ability to express
deep and poignant emotions through voice and acoustic instruments,
Wendy Repass taught herself to play guitar in the Winter of 1991
and within four months was composing songs that eventually would
become her first album,
"Chapter 1:The Coming Of Age". "Music fulfilled
a need for me. I learned I could open my mouth and express the
innermost part of myself," Wendy notes. The following spring,
she started performing her original songs regularly in public
arenas.
Even as her music was
gaining a steady audience, Wendy Repass had the opportunity to
work with Anton Chenko, producer of
Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing". She has also
worked with such performers as The Marshall Tucker Band,
Indigo Girls, and Matthew Sweet. After hearing her perform,
Daemon recording artist Kristen Hall invited her to be her opening
act. By September 1993, Repass felt that a body of her songs as
well as a period of her life was complete and she began recording
"Chapter 1."
Utilizing Charlottesville’s
pool of musical talent, Wendy Repass arranged and co-produced
the 13 original songs on the compact disc, working to combine
folk music’s sensitivity and thoughtfulness with rock'n roll’s
passion and vitality. Music Monthly notes,"’In the
case of Chapter 1, one word will suffice: Brilliant.... Simply
put this acoustic-based goldmine is chock-full of vivid imagery,
hypnotic instrumentation, and alternatingly soothing and raucous
vocals that add steroid-enhanced muscle to this radiant collection."
An energetic go-getter,
Wendy Repass formed Motherstone Productions as a Charlottesville-based
event and music production company. Primarily a company to promote
her music, Motherstone Productions also produces events to promote
diversity, education, the arts in the community such as 1999's
Shelter CD which brought
together Charlottesville's own Dave Matthews Band, former US Poet
Laureate Rita Dove, John McCutcheon
and many more.
Most recently, Repass
completed her second album, Motherstone,
with the talents of producer Kevin McNoldy, drummer Stuart Gunter
of Clare Quilty, bass
by Andy of Earth to Andy
and violin by former National Symphony Orchestra member Ann Marie
Simpson.
For more information
on Motherstone Productions, or to help fund projects like the
Shelter CD, please contact
wrepass@hotmail.com.
