Holly Ramos profile picture

Holly Ramos

having fun since i was six!

About Me

"Holly Ramos is the one who sat me down and played me James Brown records. In the 90s she fronted the NYC band FUR. She is the real thing,her songs have been a part of the soundtrack of my life over the last decade. Now she writes true grit New York City Soul. The street experience makes out with her radiant innocence; she is a descendent of Johnny Thunders and The Ramones, child-like and all knowing" -Antony from Antony and the Johnsons
ANTIMUSIC REVIEW: "That's not unlike Dylan and Young, both loved for an unusual musical genius that somehow doesn't extend to what's considered ----traditionally or technically ----a solid singing voice. Yet the fact that Ramos is mentioned in the same paragraph as these two Greats should be reason enough to check her out.
Which leads us to the real noggin scratcher: Ramos's vocal skills are not exactly toe-curling, hair-raising or heart-tugging, nor the source of any other immediate positive bodily reactions. So what is it about Ramos that earns her a four out of five? As best as I can figure, this is it: You WANT to give her a good rating, if only to reassure her that not all of us music lovers have been brainwashed into acting and buying like Stepford Significant Others. You WANT her to believe that some of us actually PREFER music that hasn't been vanilla-ized (look it up—if it's not there, it should be. Start a petition, get involved already).
Ramos's voice, in all its glorious originality, cunningly textured lyrics, and irresistible magnetism is, (and if anyone out there is actually keeping track, I apologize for my by-now strangulation-worthy overuse of the following word) refreshing. It's so unlike anything else out there today, that you will be forgiven for initially considering switching the channel or flipping through your musical options for something familiar, safe and Ovaltine comfy cozy." http://www.antimusic.com/reviews/08/HollyRamos.shtml
newest Holly Ramos interview link!!!!
http://www.staticmultimedia.com/music/features/holly_ramos_t akes_the_lead
I am a singer songwriter, have been for ever. i wasn't credited at first when i wrote for my friends. it didn't matter. sooner or later i got the courage to do it myself, for real. i hope you like my songs, tales of growing up in nyc, loving people, sometimes the wrong people. i have all of these stories inside me and they can't help but come out, stories about addiction to negative ions (the electric charge in the air that happens when water falls); cute girls who walk around on the lower east side along with the roosters and the chickens; holding my fathers hand when he was dying and i wasn't sure if i even liked him; pledging my love till we're old and grey and say things two times cause we forgot we said it, "but i'll still listen anyway". true stories of my life that i get to sing out with my bronx drawl (are you from the south? no but there is an accent you find deep in louisiana and oddly enough up north in the bronx. i learned about it when i read "a confederacy of dunces.") i've been called a street fighting princess and a rock star already, compared like some weird sin to some of my favorite characters, ny doll- guitar hero and junkie, Johnny Thunders, and warhol superstar Andrea Feldman. My heros's Dee Dee Ramone and Iggy Pop have both come to my shows. And my dainty songs sit somewhere in the middle of all that, soft and almost easy, with a little attitude and edge amidst all this living. Racehorse is my first solo release (2007/FORD TO CITY: DRoP DEAD RECORDS www.myspace.com/fordtocitydropdeadrecords), produced by producer extraordinaire Jess Stroup (visit him now at http://www.myspace.com/reedrothchild). i used to have a punk band called FUR (you can hear us if you visit my friend Fur in my top friends). the song Art lover is a KINKS song written by Ray Davies!! sooo beautiful!!
visit me at www.hollyramos.com do a good deed today and support the arts
get a copy now at ameoba records in hollywood, www.amazon.com, www.milesofmusic.com, itunes or www.cdbaby.com/cd/hollyramos
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Born and raised in Manhattan, Holly was the front woman of the band FUR and the infamous DJ of GREENDOOR fame throughout the 90's. Fur released their self titled cd and a handful of singles on Blackout! records. Holly has collaborated and recorded with the lovely Antony, of Antony and the Johnsons, winner of 2005 Mercury award. She co-wrote the songs Cigarettes and Violets on Jesse Malins The Fine Art of Self-Destruction cd, Gods Lonely People on The Heat cd and Black Haired Girl on his new one, Glitter in the Gutter. She even played guitar in Joey Ramone's band for his Christmas show at Coney Island High. She Her last ep was produced by Malin and features Ryan Adams, along with Iggy Pops drummer Paul Garisto and Robbie Williams bass player Fil Izler and the song "Waterfall" which came out of those sessions is featured on Racehorse. Holly has performed everywhere from CBGBs and Jackie 60 to the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, and has toured the US and Europe. Hollys experience of growing up punk is quoted in the American Hardcore, the definitive book on the history of hardcore punk music by Steve Blush. Holly was a special guest member of the underground performance cult BLACKLIPS!! She can be seen acting in the principal role of Natalie in the indie cult feature Margarita Happy Hour, directed by Ilya Chaiken as well as starring in the official Sundance Film Festival selection, The 100 Lovers of Jesus Reynolds, also directed by Chaiken.
la weekly write up: Holly Ramos at the Hotel Café "When Holly Ramos was fronting the New York trio Fur in the 90's, she sang with a sweetly endearing voice over a buzzing beehive of punk tempos and power chords on souped-up Blondie-ish tunes like "Beautiful Wreck". She was at the center of the Manhattan underground-rock scene, backing the late Joey Ramone on guitar at one of his Christmas concerts and later working with Jesse Malin and Antony & the Johnsons. Now she’s performing solo and living in L.A., but yoy can still hear lipstick traces of the Lower East Side in her phrasing and imagery on her new solo CD, Racehorse (on the wonderfully named Ford to City: Drop Dead Records). “I’m wearing two-day-old eye shadow in the sun on my stoop and thinking about you.” She confides on the sentimental Johnny Thunders-style ballad “Thinking about You”. Most of the songs on Racehorse are about love or losing love, such as he slowly unwinding waltz “Kiss Like a Waterfall” (which was co-produced by celeb pals Ryan Adams and Malin), and she puts a delicately innocent Jonathan Richman twist to her version of Ray Davies’ “Art Lover.” Tonight (5/29) she celebrates her cd release with an early (6:45pm) set. (Falling James)
NEW!!! EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE INTERVIEWs HOLLY AT: www.exclusive.com http://www.annecarlini.com/ex_interviews.php?id=757
The LA Weekly's Steven Leigh Morris commented on the riveting sensuality of her work; Varietys Julio Martinez called her work Outstanding; AP magazine called her a star already; and David Noh in Film Journal International compared her to Warhol superstars Andea Feldman and Patti D'Arbanville; and Entertainment Weekly listed her in "The 10 Best Bands You've Never Heard Of "...yet!
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album

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/11/2006
Band Website: hollyramos.com
Band Members: Holly Ramos, singer, songwriter and guitarist. All the other lovely folk who play with me at a given time....
Influences: not exactly influences but inspirations: Nina Simone, Generation X, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Blondie, X-ray Spex, Iggy Pop, The New York Dolls, Minor Threat, Black Flag, CRASS, Dee Dee Ramone, The Kinks, Bowie, Lina Wertmeuller, Gene Hackman, Ramsey Lewis, Missy Elliot, Samantha Morton, Al Pachino, Lucinda Williams, Burt Bacharac, Sissy Fit, James Brown, The Carpenters, Carole King, Vaginal Creme Davis, Jennifer Honkey Tits, Ryan Adams, Bridgette Bardot, Billy Bragg, Booker T and the MGs, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Darlene Love, Mean Streets, City of God, Raising Victor Vargas, You Can Count on Me, Arrested Developement, Johnny Thunders, Sly and the Family, Hughy Piano Smith, Marshall Stacks, Rumi, Hugh Masekela, Fela Kuti, Billy Bragg, Neil Young, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Odetta, Flloyd, Jackie 60, Liza Minelli in Caberet, Bob Fosse, Lenny Bruce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Into Thin Air (the book), The White Stripes, Hole, FUR, Ram Dass, The Evens, 1960's Gibson guitars, The Royal Tanembaums, Dave Chapelle, The Hold Steady.
Sounds Like: Johnnny Thunders, Mazzy Star, Regina Spektor, Beth Orton, Lucinda Williams, Keith Richards, Mick Jones, Shelby Lynn, Jonathan Richman, Lloyd Cole, Dee Dee Ramone, Nina Simone, and Lou Reed, and Fur all mixed up.
Record Label: ford to city: drop dead records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

you should get to know your town just like i know mine

i visited beautiful nyc this weekend, my home, where i was born and where my family lives. new york is lame and douche yes i know. but it is also so amazing and great.it reminded me of a certain type ...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:30:00 PST

The perfect show (wed dec 5 hotel cafe los angeles)

Its not everyday that I get to play a perfect show. Last night I did. Partly because I got to play my songs with accompaniment by my friend and great musician Jess Stroup. Playing with others can be ...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:05:00 PST

A bride and groom waving goodbye in a 1962 white Cadillac

The highway seduces, whispering "keep driving", and this is what I saw (take out your copy of Robert Frank's the Americans and follow along): Ghettos and mansions right next to eachotherA chain of dri...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:53:00 PST

Tour Diary part II, Wild Horses (pardon delay- my computer crashed really bad)

day four: OFF We wake up late and heads out to Wisconsin to visit the home that Tom first lived in and the home his grandfather owned. The trip is a great success and a young woman who still lives wit...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 10:34:00 PST

TOUR DIARY... adventures in america..crack hotels and jfk's car

MIDWEST TOUR DIARY day one: FLY FROM LAX TO WAYNE COUNTY, DETROIT AIRPORT.First of all, Wayne County was the name of one of my heros when I was a teenager- an early transgender rock star from the Max'...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:26:00 PST

"ex-friends, x-lovers and enemys...on the radio!!!"

hey foxes!!thanks for tuning in tonight, sun may 20th. i got to play on the radio, 97.1 free fm, on dave adelson and roy trakin's show media whores, part of a show called indstry night!!!! you can lis...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Mon, 21 May 2007 12:37:00 PST

I got your picture on my mind like a snapshot, like one I stole

life is grey, never black and white. I didn't want to go to see my family on father's day of 1996. I had just started transforming my life, just started waking up, just started to know that the weird ...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:18:00 PST

what a great mercury lounge show, thanks peeps!!!

wow, foxy people!thanks for coming down to the mercury lounge and for buying advanced tickets!! that was amazing. this show was my pre-record release- RACEHORSE is being released nationally and digita...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:22:00 PST

Life cafe, ave b, inspired by victor rat at rat r

i went to life cafe for the first time in 1981. i was a freshman at cardinal spellman high school and had changed from my blue polyester uniform into black bondage pants to meet stephan from the false...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:55:00 PST

dear james brown,

dear james brown, i, of course, have a song called "james brown" that i recorded with my band fur, what better way to show my love and adoration! (i know, i need to get the song up here but i have be...
Posted by Holly Ramos on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:03:00 PST