Photo By : Anthony Romano
Danielle Cormier, 24, is a pure and powerful voice for the new age. A singer-songwriter, she credits her love for the arts to seeing her first Broadway show at five years old. From there Cormier learned to play the piano, guitar, performed in many school plays and regional theatre productions. Then, she began to write.
Cormier grew up in one of the golf capitals of the world (Pinehurst, NC). She is the daughter of a former Canadian harness horse racer and of an actress as an extra on the TV show "Matlock" turned restaurateur. The family owns the Pinehurst Track Restaurant, known for having one of the best blueberry pancakes in the world (ranked third by the Golf Channel).
That early experience led Danielle to pursue a degree at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. There, she studied musical theater from some of the best in the business and honed her skills. But to Danielle, something was missing. After a performance that afforded her the opportunity to play guitar during her number, Danielle realized that her true calling was to be a performing singer-songwriter. “Our teachers were all working professionals,” says Cormier. “Almost all of them commented ‘Wow you sound like Carole King!’ or ‘You really have a Joni Mitchell sound to your voice.’ As it turns out, they were pushing me towards my passion.”
Once Danielle finished school, she packed her bags to pursue the songwriting dream in Nashville. Accompanying her move to Music City in 2016, she released a 6 song EP dubbed Casino Sessions. Since the launch, Cormier has continued to write, play songwriters rounds, and compile a collection of songs for the album Fire & Ice. “The main inspiration driving Fire & Ice is my own yin and yang,” says Cormier. “It’s balancing and embracing the light and dark forces in our lives and, for the past year and a half, while writing these songs, it's been a theme I dealt heavily with.”
Produced by Adam Lester (Peter Frampton, Jill Andrews, Backstreet Boys), Fire & Ice is Danielle’s first full-length effort. “We clicked immediately and he understood my work so perfectly,” says Cormier of Lester. “He took my songs and turned them into something above and beyond I ever could have expected.” Recorded in May 2017 at The Pilot Lounge in Brentwood TN, the album features 10 original songs, 9 of which Cormier wrote herself.
The biggest surprise on the album? A cameo in “Can’t Quit You” by none other than guitar legend, Peter Frampton. “After recording the album, my producer, Adam, left to go on tour with Peter. One night, I got an email from him that Peter picked this song specifically and recorded a guitar solo after the bridge. I listened to it with my mom in my living room and I remember getting to the solo and my jaw just dropping. It’s an honor to have Peter Frampton on my album, especially as an up and coming artist.”
Since the release of the album Danielle performed with Vince Gill at his annual Vinny Invitational Golf Tournament and opened for Trace Adkins at Ft. Bragg’s 4th of July Celebration. In November 2018 Danielle released an original Christmas song which was featured on Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlist and the song itself reached over 3.1 million streams. Danielle’s newest single “Berlin” was released February 29, 2020.