Smudgie (aka "Smudge" or "The Smudge") is a singer-songwriter, and a Ph.D. Candidate in economics, who creates quirky, melodic pop/rock/alternative songs. Her family and friends actually do call her "Smudge". The origin of her unusual name is from her mom, a poet, who looked at Smudge when she was just born and thought that the miracle of sperm and egg had combined to create a little "Smudge of life". From that point on, Smudge was called Smudge. It has stuck and brought her luck. In 2005, never having written a song in her life, while studying economics in her tiny flat in London, England, Smudgie was exposed to, and inspired by the London music scene to the point where she began writing hundreds of poems, some of which evolved into songs. Her first song "Unintentionally", was written on a rainy night, after a London party. Upon returning home to Canada, she nervously presented the song to her very experienced producer-arranger-guitar-player brother. Within a short time span, the song was edited, arranged, put to music composed by Pete, and then recorded at her brother's Attitude Recordz studio in Aurora, a bedroom community of Toronto, Canada's largest city. Just before stepping into the singing booth in the recording studio, Smudge recalls seeing her own hand shake as she’d never really sung before. Since then, the majority of Smudgie's songs have reached the Official Top 20 of mp3u.com and more recently, Smudgie won "Best Group of 2008" on mp3u.com of all genres and artists from around the world. Her song "Lost My Destination" reached #1 (and stayed in the Top 40 of Tourdates.com for 3 weeks). "Feel Like This" was remixed by mp3u.com's Bluntman and it reached the Official mp3u.com Top 20, as had her original version. More recently, "A River No One Knows", a ballad about the “unknowness” of death, reached #2. Being on the Official mp3u.com Charts means that a track has compared favorably with approximately 19,000 other tracks of all genres, from all over the world. In the summer of 2008, Smudgie was thrilled to learn that "Feel Like This" was chosen for placement in Los Angeles-based Web series "The Odyssey Years". Though she is still a relatively new artist, Smudgie already has several songs on regular Internet radio rotation. She is also the winner of the 'Best Alternative Rock' category at the 2008 Ontario Independent Music Awards, the Loopmaster's 2007 Song Contest Winner, the Orion Winter/Spring 2007 Contest Winner ("Walk Away"), the 2007 Ontario Independent Music Awards 'Best Alternative Song' nominee ("Unintentionally"), the 2008 'Best International Artist' Exposure Music Awards nominee (based on her 1st 9 songs). She is also a Semi-Finalist in the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest. Smudgie is a 2008 'Best Video' Exposure Music Awards nominee ("Feel Like This" video) and in that year that video was selected to be aired on Long Island, New York-based satellite TV, reaching approximately half a million viewers. More recently, it was selected to be aired on a Birmingham, UK-based Internet TV station. Beginning in January, 2009, her songs and her “Feel Like This” video, on YouTube, were selected to be played in independent coffee houses across America starting in Los Angeles. She is very excited to be releasing her first album, simply called "Smudgie". It is a 10-song eclectic collection of unconventional, pop/rock/alternative, emotive, lyric-driven songs. Smudge was lucky enough to have the first song on the album "Lost My Destination" evaluated live, in-person by Jim Vallance (songwriter of Bryan Adams's "Cuts Like a Knife" and other hits). After listening, Jim told Smudgie "You've got it" regarding her songwriting/performance. She was thrilled and inspired to keep songwriting. None of this would have been possible without the continuing support of her family and friends, especially Hank and Chris Wallace who first introduced Smudge to mp3unsigned.com. Also key is the amazing Stew from the mp3unsigned.com family. Smudge is very grateful to both Sarah McCully, her first vocal coach, and Donna Flynn, her current vocal coach, for their outstanding, inspiring guidance. Finally, the ongoing mentoring Smudge receives from her highly-talented brother Pete, is a vital source of energy. She is now working energetically on a roster of fresh songs continually refining her unique sound. She continues to gain more and more international attention via live performance, such as showcasing this spring at the Columbia Arts Team Songwriters Festival in New York, and via the Internet, television, and other media. Contact: smudgie@live.ca