Biography

Mary Lemanski is a talented and eclectic singer, songwriter, and musician, who has also worked in many facets of the music industry, including promotion, radio, staging and live sound production, recording, and remix production. After high school, Mary earned a degree in Music and Business Administration with a concentration in Musical Composition and an emphasis in piano and voice from Millikin University. In 1999, Mary completed studies in audio engineering at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences. During that summer, she interned at BMG Entertainment and Epitaph Records in Los Angeles.

In 2003, Mary graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Master of Business Administration in e-Business. In 2004, Mary placed runner-up in the Song of the Year Contest, had a Top 10 Hit on Broadjam.com's New Wave charts, and several top 10 hits on Cornerband.com's Arizona local music charts. In 2005, she was chosen to showcase at Earth Mother Mind Jam in Tempe, AZ, the Putt Putt Pub Crawl in St. Louis, MO, and the Millennium Music Conference in Harrisburg, PA.

Ms. Lemanski has written columns for GoGirlsMusic.com and LooseyLucy's Headquarters, and has done songwriting, marketing, and image consultation for many record labels and individual artists. She has opened for acts such as Marky Ramone & the Speed Kings, D.I., and Val Emmich. In May 2006, Mary's song, "A Better Place," received honorable mention in the R&B/Hip-Hop category of the Song of the Year Contest. Due to the birth of her first child on February 16, 2007 and her move to the Chicago area this past summer, Mary Lemanski is taking an undetermined, if not permanent, break from the music and entertainment business.

Discography

1999 - "Six Songs Just For You" EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

2000 - "Open Dress Rehearsal"  EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

2002 - "Mary Lemanski & The Addicktives: Live at the Phoenix Hard Rock Cafe"  EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

2003 - "Hello Out There" featured on "Kid Antrim Music Compilation CD 2003" and on "Black & Red Records Ska/Punk Compilation"

2004 - "Mary Lemanski" EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

2005 - "Mary Lemanski: Live at the Millennium Music Conference 2005" EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

2007 - "Last, But Not Least" EP/demo (Painted Girl Records)

Fun Things About Mary

1) Mary Nell Lemanski was born January 18, 1975 at 3:43 AM at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, IL.  She was born one month premature, weighed 3 lbs., 11.5 oz., was 16.5 inches long, and had a head the size of a small orange.   

2) In grade school and junior high, Mary was a tom boy and was active in school basketball and volleyball and summer baseball/softball leagues.  After tryouts one year for Little League Baseball, Mary was first round draft pick...and she was one of only two girls that played baseball...unfortunately, performing the best at tryouts landed her on the worst team...Mary still likes to work out, dance, and play sports.          

2) Mary still holds the record at her high school, Sacred Heart-Griffin High School (Springfield, IL), for the most awards in music, and she graduated from there in 1993.

3) In high school, Mary played a Gossiper in her school's production of Where's Charley? (1991) and performed the part of Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof (1993).  Note: Anyone with videos of these performances please email Mary at marylemanski@popstar.com.

4) While at Millikin University, Mary wrote music for two plays put on by the theatre department: Persephone's Piece and City Scream.  City Scream was also performed by Millikin students at the University of Illinois in Springfield for a spoken word/theatre festival.   One of Mary's songs from City Screem was sung by actress, Hedy Burress, a Millikin alum who has since gone on to star on the hit TV show, Boston Common, and in movies, such as If These Walls Could Talk, Valentine, and Bug.  

5) While in college, Mary took piano lessons from Aldo Mancinelli (and his wife and former student, Judith Mancinelli), who took lessons from Claudio Arrau, who took lessons from Martin Krause, who took lessons from Franz Liszt, who took lessons from Carl Czerny, who took lessons from Ludwig van Beethoven, who took lessons from Joseph Haydn. Haydn was friends with and had a huge influence on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Ludwig van Beethoven also studied with Christian Neefe, who studied with Johann Hiller, who studied with Gottfried Homilius, who studied with Johann Sebastian Bach.  Mary's piano teacher, Aldo Mancinelli, was the first American to win the coveted Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition.  A Steinway Artist, Mancinelli has performed over 950 concerts throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. He has played at Carnegie Hall in New York and has been the guest soloist with major symphony orchestras including the Hague Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony.

6) Mary's mother's family has a long history of involvement in Springfield, IL politics.  (Contrary to popular belief, Springfield is the capital of Illinois, not Chicago.)  She has family members who are politicians that are Democrats and Republicans.  Their political involvement has ranged from chairs in the Republican Party to Finance Commissioner to City Treasurer to Mayor.   

7) Mary's father's uncle, Frank "Lefty" Lamanske, was a left-handed pitcher for the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers.  Frank Lamanske changed the spelling of his name to "Lamanske" from "Lemanski" because the media always misspelled it "Lamanske."  Note: Members of the press, please take notice of proper spelling.

8) Mary is not the only person in her family with musical and acting talent.  One of Mary's cousins, Joseph Langfelder, appeared as a senator in the movie, "Legally Blonde 2."  Another cousin, Jacob Langfelder, is an accomplished actor, singer, and songwriter...and yet another cousin, Jonathan Cour, is also an aspiring singer/songwriter/musician.

9) MARY LEMANSKI HAS BEEN ON MTV!!!  Yes, it's true.  It was not her own music video, but Mary appears in the Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake "Behind the Tour: Justified and Stripped."  You can see the camera focus in on Mary for about 3-4 seconds as she is pushing a P.A. cabinet.

Buy MP3s of Mary Lemanski's music at:  Broadjam.com