SUSAN SISKO CARTER
Singer. Songwriter. Screenwriter. Author.
It was a hot, smoggy afternoon in a popular Los Angeles vinyl record store, when five vinyl-browsing fans recognized Susan...each by a different name. (There are real live witnesses to this fact.) Susan has sung, written, recorded, and deejayed under five different names: Susan Rafey, Susan Carter, Miss Outrageous Nevada, Susan Sisko and the name she is sticking with now—Susan Sisko Carter.
No. she is not a fugitive on the lam. Just a woman with a vivid imagination
who, through the years, has dressed herself in new names like most women do with new clothes.
It was while Googling her various names one night, as a full moon found her through the skylight of her living room, that she discovered hundreds of thousands of fans were posting her music on social media. A couple of those recordings were made when she was only thirteen-years-old...and signed to a major label. Her recordings as a teen, under the name Susan Rafey, include the Verve album "Hurt So Bad" produced by the legendary Creed Taylor. Her album on Epic, "Wonderful Deeds and Adventures," arranged by Dick Halligan and produced by Les Carter, has been reissued by Epic Legacy.
Susan's life is rich with material for songs and stories. When she sings, there is intimacy in her voice, as if she is sharing a secret. For years, her voice was a secret during her successful career, writing for television. Then, one night, in Paris, she sang in a jazz club. The audience was moved by her voice. "Très émouvant. Authentique," they told her. "Bravo," a Hendrix-haired musician said, just before kissing her hand. As Susan strolled down Boulevard Saint-Germain, she heard herself say: "I was a singer. I am a singer. I will always be a singer." That realization in Paris eventually led to her recording again, and the release of several internationally acclaimed recordings.
Susan is a storyteller. You can feel it in her music. And in her debut novel—
The Lyric Hotel. Available now. She would love for you to read it.
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© Susan Sisko Carter, 2024