With a voice that knows no one genre, Emily Drennan is a highly sought after singer. The variety of venues in which she has sung has given Emily a style and a grace few her age can match.
Born in Norman, Oklahoma, Emily Drennan began singing at a very early age, predominately in church. With a mom who is a composer with perfect pitch and was a vocal music teacher, a Dad who played the trumpet, keyboard, bass and baritone and a brother who played the saxophone, piano and guitar, a musical upbringing seemed inevitable for Emily. Growing up listening to Karen Carpenter, Fifth Dimension, Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Petula Clark, Sandi Patty and composers like Chopin, Vivaldi, Norman Dello Joio and Mozart, Emily grew up with an eclectic taste in music. Throughout her teenage years, Emily had the opportunity to sing for many varied events, most notably the national anthem for the Indianapolis Colts, Oklahoma City Thunder, NCAA Championship games and the Softball College World Series.
Her senior year of high school, Emily was selected as a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts(youngARTS) Competition Level 1 winner and was chosen as 1 of 2 Pop Vocalists in the United States. By being a Level 1 winner, Emily was later nominated and then named a National Presidential Scholar in the Artswhich is the highest award given to a high school senior in the United States. This award also included a solo performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a White House reception with President Bill Clinton. That same year, Emily graduated as a Valedictorian of her high school class and went to Oklahoma State University where she received a full 5-year college scholarship and 25 additional private scholarships enabling her to also study at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. During her stay at OSU, in addition to being in 12 National Honor Societies and an Executive member of 9 organizations, Emily had the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of musical activities. From singing classical music such as the Bach in B Minor Mass and Carmina Burana in Concert Chorale and Chamber Choir to being the jazz vocalist for 5 years for the OSU Jazz Band singing music by Duke Ellington and Cole Porter, Emily was fortunate to have a wide range of opportunities to expand her musical horizons. While at OSU, she was named Outstanding Senior in Business, Outstanding Senior in Economics and Outstanding Overall Senior, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and minors in Finance, Marketing, International Business and Latin American Studies.
Within a year of moving to NYC, Emily landed a spot in the Drama Desk Award Winning Off-Broadway a cappella show Toxic Audio in which she later went on to perform in the show in its Las Vegas productions at Planet Hollywood and The Luxor and across the country.
Since then, Emily has been a featured soloist many times at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall. She was recently seen in the New York Spectacular starring the Rockettes at Radio City and was seen touring Europe and the Caribbean playing Tanya in Mamma Mia! She was also seen as “Mezzo” in the Lucille Lortel Award winning Off-Broadway a cappella show, Voca People, and in its Israel, Japan, and Dubai tours as well as on The Jimmy Fallon Show, MDA Telethon with Nigel Lithgoe, Wendy Williams Show and with Sting. Emily has appeared on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice singing alongside Cyndi Lauper and appeared in the NBC, PBS, and Netflix specials of The Radio City Christmas Spectacular where she was a featured soloist. Regionally, she has played roles such as Amneris in AIDA, Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Ann in SWING!, Sheila in HAIR, Pattie in Smokey Joe’s Café and Doatsey Mae in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
She has shared the stage as a guest soloist with symphonies over a hundred times including with: The Cleveland Orchestra; the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (in Dallas and at Bravo Vail!); the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; the OKC Philharmonic; the Pittsburgh Symphony; the Portland Symphony Orchestra; the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; The Austin Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra among others.
Emily is a published ASCAP and Recording Academy (GRAMMY®,) producer, lyricist, composer, and recording artist for TV and Film. She is also an acclaimed studio singer and voice-over artist. Her work can be heard in English and Spanish for national radio and TV commercials, boat tours and a 32-episode animated series where she plays the Mother and the Queen.
Recently at her alma mater, Emily was honored as an Oklahoma State University Outstanding Alumna for the Spears College of Business as well as an Oklahoma State University Distinguished Alumna for the College of Arts & Sciences.
Her double-disc debut album, Two-Way Street, encompasses pop and jazz and tells of both sides of ones’ heart: the white album full of hope, love and belief and the black album full of honesty, heartbreak and resilience. Her second album, A Mother Daughter Christmas, features her mother, Patti Drennan, who is a well-known composer having sold over 2 million copies of her sacred and secular music. A family affair, it combines heartfelt and nostalgic classics complete with orchestral arrangements as well as funky gospel tunes featuring Hammond b3 organ and gospel choirs. It won the IMEA Holiday Album of the Year. Emily’s latest release, I Know Your Name, is a stunning tribute to her father who was tragically killed this past year. For her work creating this song, she has won the Hollywood Independent Music Award for Best Singer-Songwriter and a Global Music Silver Award. She is currently nominated for the Josie Music Awards Vocalist of the Year Award and Josie Music Awards Multi-Genre Song of the Year and is also a Semi-Finalist in the UK International Songwriting Contest. Emily’s full discography, including recently released singles O Holy Night, Make You Feel My Love, See the Light and We Three Kings / What Child is This? are on iTunes and can be found on her official website: www.emilydrennan.com
She is also a NYC Marathon finisher and Price is Right winner. Her favorite roles are wife to her husband, Greg, and mother to their 5-year-old and 2-year-old sons. Forever for Dad.