Karen Mitchell Biography

Karen got her first instrument, a ukelele, at the age of five and wrote her first song...there was no turning back. Her father and uncle were both  Jazz bass players (Whitey and Red Mitchell), playing with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, and the list goes on. As a teenager singing in clubs around L.A., Karen was spotted by film composer John Debney (Iron Man 1 & 2, Princess Diaries, Evan Almighty) who hired her for her first recording sessions for radio, film, and TV. In between traveling and singing backgrounds for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis and Deneice Williams, Edwin Starr, and Paul Williams, Karen went on to make a pop-rock album for RCA records, produced by Steve George (Mr. Mister, Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, Jewel).  

 

Karen’s first Country album "One More Day" contains all original songs, and was Produced by legendary songwriter Jerry Fuller (Ricky Nelson's "Travelin' Man", Gary Puckett's "Young Girl") with Dwight Yoakam's band backing her up. She had 2 hit recordings in Japan (singing in Japanese), and is a vocal coach, and background vocal Singer/Arranger, for some of the busiest studios in the L.A. area. Breaking into film and TV as a Singer/Songwriter, Karen has written and sung songs in feature films starring Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, and John Cusack. Karen is the featured singer on the critically acclaimed Big Band CD "Wind and Sand" by Bruce Lofgren and his Big Band. Most recently, Karen was featured singing in French in an episode of "The Romanoffs" on Netflix, was the singing voice of a mermaid in Hulu's hit TV show "Siren", and sang throughout the Zac Efron movie "Extremely Wicked", which also led to a trip to the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere! An active member of PETA, the Humane Farming Association,  Farm Sanctuary, and other humanitarian organizations, such as the Association for Global New Thought, and Humanity's Team, Karen is dedicated to caring for animals and our planet, promoting a vegan lifestyle. Her first CD of positive message music is called “In This Moment”, and Karen has just finished her much anticipated Positive Message music video and CD, entitled "Willing To Change". It was produced by phenomenal musician and Producer, David Blasucci. Karen is a New Thought minister, and became Staff Minister at Ventura Center for Spiritual Living in 2018, and as of September, 2020, has become Assistant Minister and Music Minister at the Hi-Desert Center for Spiritual Living, under Senior Minister, Rev. Doug LeBow. Karen enjoys writing an ongoing Spiritual Advice column called "Spiritually Speaking" for the Crescenta Valley Weekly newspaper. A passionate Kundalini Yoga Teacher since 2016, Karen is so grateful to teach Yoga whenever possible, helping to empower people to remember their own ability to grow their creativity, and use breathing and chanting, for stress management. Since the Pandemic, Karen sings "virtually" at Spiritual Centers around the globe, via Zoom and song videos.