Island Park Library to host concert

Up and coming artist Sheri Miller will be appearing at Island Park Library on Saturday, October 11th at 2 p.m. Sheri was born in Roslyn in an extremely musical and creative home. Her mother was an opera singer and classical pianist, while her uncle was a recording engineer and musician. Sheri began taking classical piano lessons at age seven, but even then rebelled by composing her own original songs, rather than practicing her classical pieces. she began teaching herself guitar and piano, composing dozens of songs by age ten, and singing along with Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Billie Holiday, The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

While Sheri was singing in local Philly blues bands, writing songs secretly in her bedroom, and getting a degree in English and Poetry at UPenn, an incredible coincidence happened to Sheri. She began dreaming of a Casio Keyboard over many months, to help her write songs in her bedroom, instead of walking 20 minutes downtown to the jazz piano practice room. One dreamy Sunday morning, after an especially vivid keyboard dream, Sheri took an alternate scenic path to the library, instead of her usual straight path. She passed a 1-day church sale. To her amazement, she saw and bought the exact same buzzing Casio keyboard she had dreamt of the night before, for $20. This “gentle” push and “tiny miracle” naturally opened and gently nudged Sheri to composing songs on her new keyboard everyday, awakening her artistry. She says “Since then I believe coincidences are just visible lines in our destiny.”

Sheri further polished her artistry and songwriting voice in New York. During the evenings, Sheri was hard at work, paying her musical dues, working incessantly as a solo musician in the big city; fearlessly singing her heart out, banging on her electric sunburst 1969 Guild guitar. She played 4-hour covers gigs in bars and hotels, sometimes 5 nights a week. In the daytime, Sheri played keyboards and sang in a rock band for babies, as a music teacher. In between these hours, when not working hard to pay her rent as a musician, Sheri passionately wrote pages of lyrics and poetry on guitar and piano, dozens of songs.