www.rachelpanay.com

A Washington, D.C. native, the only child of a classical pianist mother, Rachel Panay has been honing her craft since the age of eight. At Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts, she trained formally in voice, dance, and musical theater and wrote her first composition, "Gun of Love", which became WPGC Washington, DC's theme song for its "Stop the Violence" campaign. After graduating from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Rachel's unique style emerged as she became deeply involved in the Boston live music scene, experimenting with the genres of Jazz, Acid Jazz, Pop, R&B, and even Latin Funk. Her original track "Desire" brought her to the attention of Boston based DJ's and promoters and with their encouragement, Rachel continued to move in the Dance/House direction with follow-up, "Shine On" which garnered an even more enthusiastic response and later landed on Miami's SFP Records.

Upon attending the Winter Music Conference of 2001, Rachel relocated to Miami to collaborate with several production teams leading to the signing and release of additional original productions "You Make Me Feel" sited in Billboard Magazine as one of the top Dance tracks by an emerging artists, "I Still Want You", currently on Music Choice's Dance channel, as well as her first major label appearance on BMG Latin's remake of Foxy's "Get Off" currently available on BMG's Latin Party compilation and Verano 2003. While in Miami, Rachel also performed for the most high profile of events including Winter Party, White Party, Mr. Miami International, Miami AIDS Walk, Aqua Girl and more and had a regular series of performances at Frankie & Johnny's, The Cactus Club and the Hotel St. Augustine where she presented her originals alongside Jazz standards and uniquely presented covers.

During the fall of 2003, Rachel began to promote the track that would capture the ears and imaginations of dance floors, DJ's and fans everywhere, "The Walk of Shame". Written with good friend and collaborator, Steven Billing, the song soon came to the attention of DJ Angelo Kortez whose subsequent Palacio Edit was selected by Rosabel to appear on their Fireball CD compilation on Centaur Records. But this was only the beginning…DJ Yiannis Elia, resident of Washington, D.C.'s Velvet Nation took the vision to an entirely new level, creating a track that would be for Rachel, the definitive version, a vehicle for her voice and for the persona that she had created to convey the song's message of an evening's adventure that ends in humiliation and shame. The underground buzz around the track continues to build here in the States and abroad and "The Walk of Shame" is steadily treading the path to club Anthem status. Stay tuned for news of commercial release to be announced soon!

During the fervor surrounding "The Walk of Shame", Rachel was busy working on a new collaboration with Josh Harris, formerly of renowned remix team, The Passengerz. Their first single, "Back to Love", is expected to be out on Act 2 Records in summer of 2004. "Back to Love" is an upbeat, positive House blaster with great cross over appeal. The strong response to such dramatically different tracks is undeniable proof of how universally appealing Rachel's infectious sound and style is.

Drawing comparisons to her influences Kristine W., Amber, and Ultra Nate, Rachel is poised as a leader in the next generation of vocalists and songwriters who believe that Dance music can and should uplift, provoke thought and feeling, speak the truth, and of course make the floor move and club goers sing along!

Rachel currently commutes between Miami, her hometown of Washington, D.C., & New York City. She performs regularly at club venues and events and is recording new material both in Miami and New York.

For more detailed information on recent and upcoming shows, releases, new projects, etc. please visit www.rachelpanay.com!

Copyright © 2004 The Cherry Fund. All Rights Reserved.