LENI STERN
- Guitar, Vocals, Composer
- Born 28.4.1952, Munich, Germany
- Worked as actress in the 70s
- Studied music 1976 - 1980 at Berklee College of Music, Boston (BA, film composition)
- Lives in New York
Leni Stern originally started her career as an actress for several theatre groups and TV-shows before she started studying music. She had been playing piano and guitar even as a kid, but decided to become a professional relatively late.
She has recorded six solo albums so far and written a book on jazz composition. She is also the only guitarist invited by a keyboard magazine to write a regular column on composition.
Her compositional style is highly individual and combines neo-bebop with funk rhythms.
She also plays slide guitar and has started singing late in 1994. Her forthcoming third album for Lipstick - "Words" (available in May 95) will feature some vocal tunes.
Right now there are six albums available:
- Clairvoyant (Passport Jazz, out of print)
- Next Day (Passport Jazz, out of print)
- Secrets (Enja 79602)
- Closer To The Light (Enja 79634)
- Ten Songs (LIP 89009)
- Like One (LIP 89017)
and the seventh is coming in May 1995. It is called "Words" and features some vocal tunes.
Leni Stern lives in New York with her husband Mike Stern and two cats. She has survived cancer and an early drug addiction and actively helps to support cancer victims. She almost never works together with her husband - except for some rare occassions at beneficiary concerts for good causes.
Since Leni and Mike often don't see each other for a long time due to their busy touring schedules, they try to send a few weeks every year together on vacation - usually in Asia.




Author: Alex Mercke-mail: 73233,557@compuserve.com
Last Updated: Sam, 18. Feb 1995