Composer Mary Jane Riemann sings and writes in many musical styles and records with her husband in Anchorage, Alaska.
She was born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada and started piano lessons at the age of five. She was classically trained through the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada. She sang in choirs and took some private voice lessons as well. Writing music started in her teens, as well as a secret desire to be a lead singer. "I didn't have the skills or the courage for that then," she says, adding "I am a poster child for voice lessons and perseverance. It took a long time for my voice to show up the way it is now".
Mary Jane studied jazz at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. From there it was an easy spring-board into playing and touring with pop and rock bands as a keyboard player and back up singer. "I was so very happy just to be playing music all the time. And learning all those pop and rock songs surely informed my own writing later on. Also, touring all the time and performing consistently were invaluable experiences for both work and life."
Mary Jane moved all around the East Coast, performing music and teaching at a school of music in New Brunswick, and a conservatory in Nova Scotia.
