Holly, a resident of London for over a decade, is a native of San Francisco.
She began singing at the age of 12, trained by the legendary vocal coach Judy Davis who coached Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Holly began her career singing Burt Bacharach songs at a topless nightclub in San Francisco's North beach district, and even then her act had a high camp content girls wearing nothing but veils, a la Salome, danced around Penfield as she sang The Look of Love.
Moving to Los Angeles, she secured two major record contracts, recording three albums of her own songs, with a song reaching the Top 100 American charts. Her first producer was record producer Mike Chapman "Love Is a Battlefield". She has kept many aspects of the genre she worked in during the 80's, "I've taken my rock and roll background and applied it to my jazz cabaret".
Holly then moved to New York, and on to London where she has found great success as a cabaret and jazz singer appearing at Pizza on The Park, Cafe de Paris, Beach Blanket Babylon, Pizza Express, China Jazz, and Scott's on Mount Street, where she was literally the toast of Mayfair! She has also performed for Prince Charles at the prestigious opening of the new sound stage at Elstree Film Studios, wowing honoured guests such as The Lord Mayor of London. Recently Holly has been performing on a tour of Europe, in Sicily she sang for 500 gay men at an amphitheater, in the south of France she sang for 100 French farmers at a chateau, and in Norway she conducted a 13-city tour culminating in a concert in Oslo.
In addition to performing all over Europe, Holly made her New York debut last winter at the cabaret epicenter Don't Tell Mama, where cabaret doyenne Julie Wilson liked Holly's show so much she saw it twice. After winning new fans in New York, Holly returned to London to headline a benefit at The Savoy where 250 fans attended a dinner and a two hour concert.
Holly's UK debut was at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe with her original and critically acclaimed show "Fragile Human Monster", which was recorded as a CD. Penfield also promoted her Canadian-released album, "Parts of My Privacy". Following her Edinburgh success came a string of European dates, including music festivals in France, Italy and Germany, gigs in Istanbul, Munich, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv and Tokyo, at the enormous Budokan Theatre, where Holly competed in the Yamaha Songwriting Festival, she won a motorcycle! She has also appeared with her quintet at Cairo's legendary Mena Hou Oberoi Hotel, at the base of the Keops Great Pyramid, singing swing at the El Khalifa room.
Holly Penfield comes from a musical lineage, her grandmother Anna Penfield was a classical pianist with the New York Philharmonic Ballet and Opera. Holly herself is a pianist who has always admired female songwriters, saying "When I was growing up, I wanted to be a combination of Laura Nyro, Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell". Holly's own serious songwriting talents come to the fore when she delivers her original song, "What Would Love Do?" Her most recent CD "Le Jazz Hot", recorded live at Pizza on The Park, is available on the web at various sites.
A snippet of a typical night with Holly!
