Robyn Adele Anderson
Background information
Born (1989-02-19) February 19, 1989 (age 34)
Albany, New York, U.S.
GenresJazz, pop
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Years active2011–present
Websiterobynadele.com

Robyn Adele Anderson (born February 19, 1989) is an American singer and stage actress based in New York City. She is a cast member and featured artist for Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox with over 250 million YouTube views on her music videos. She is credited with the band's breakthrough covers of "Thrift Shop" and "We Can't Stop" in 2013.[1][2][3][4] Anderson also performed lead vocals for performances on Good Morning America (ABC) in 2013,[5] and TEDx in 2014.[6]

Early life and education

Robyn Adele Anderson was born in Albany, New York. She grew up in Glenmont, New York with her mother, father, and half-sister. She is of German, Dutch, English, Scottish, and Native American descent. She attended Bethlehem Central High School where she played clarinet in the Wind Ensemble and sang in several choral groups.[7]

She graduated from Binghamton University in 2011 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science and Arabic and concentrations in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs. She studied at the University of Seville in Spain for a semester in 2009 and became a study-abroad peer adviser.[8] Her academic accomplishments won her the Israel J. Rosefksy Language and Culture Scholarship and the Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence in 2011.[9] She was also selected as the intern for Binghamton's Planet Library project, an internationalization effort.[10]

Career

From 2012 to 2015, Anderson worked for the ANSOB Center for Refugees, a non-profit organization in Astoria, NY that assists refugees in obtaining legal and social services.[11]

In February 2013, Anderson began collaborating with American pianist and musical arranger Scott Bradlee, becoming a founding member of Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox collective.[when?] In 2013, Anderson's vocal contributions to the Postmodern Jukebox cover of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" (2012) helped the video receive one million views on YouTube in its first week and four million in its first year.[3][12][13][14][1][15][16]

After serving as Postmodern Jukebox' primary vocalist, Anderson started producing music under her own name.[when?] The music was released on YouTube and other platforms.[17] As of August 2021, her YouTube channel has over 653,000 subscribers and over 84 million views.

In January 2014, she became a staff writer for the online K-pop magazine KpopStarz.[18]

In 2015, she was cast as Lilyan Tashman in Cynthia von Buhler's Speakeasy Dollhouse: Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic at the Liberty Theatre.[19][20]

In 2016, she played the part of Lucile in FlexCo.'s production of The Flying Doctor at the Central Booking Art Space in the Lower East Side.[21] Occasionally she is a guest vocalist for the musical duo The Skivvies, composed of Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley.[22][when?]

In 2017, Anderson began a series of solo shows, first at Feinstein's/54 Below[23] followed by several at Sleep No More's Manderley Bar, and a two-week tour in 2018 alongside Von Smith.

Anderson voiced the character Robin Koninsky (a Polish singer) in the 2018 video game Red Dead Redemption 2.[citation needed] Other members of Postmodern Jukebox also made appearances.[citation needed] In the same year, Robyn Adele (Vol 1.) was released on Bandcamp.[17]

Discography

Solo

As member of Postmodern Jukebox

Postmodern Jukebox videography

As of December 12, 2016, music videos featuring Anderson account for over 200 million of Postmodern Jukebox' 1 billion+ total YouTube viewcount.[28][29]

Postmodern Jukebox music videos featuring Robyn Adele Anderson[28]
Video title Date published YouTube
viewcount 		Notes
"We Can't Stop - 1950's Doo Wop Miley Cyrus Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson, The Tee - Tones" Sep 3, 2013 25,529,708 feat. the Tee-Tones[14]
"Thrift Shop (Vintage "Grandpa Style" Macklemore Cover)" Feb 11, 2013 16,782,491 [1][2][3]
"Burn - Vintage '60s Girl Group Ellie Goulding Cover with Flame-O-Phone" Apr 8, 2014 23,450,327
"Timber - Vintage 1950's Doo Wop Pitbull / Ke$ha Cover" Feb 3, 2014 12,464,167 feat. the Tee-Tones
"Careless Whisper - Vintage 1930's Jazz Wham! Cover ft. Dave Koz" Feb 25, 2014 25,448,114 [30]
"Blurred Lines - Vintage "Bluegrass Barn Dance" Robin Thicke Cover" Oct 22, 2013 12,973,374 [30][31]
"Call Me Maybe - Vintage Carly Rae Jepsen Cover [The Original Video]" Jul 30, 2013 14,136,248
"Anaconda - Vintage Bluegrass Hoedown - Style Nicki Minaj Cover" Sep 30, 2014 8,148,473
"Talk Dirty - Vintage Klezmer Jason Derulo Cover (with 2 Chainz Rap in Yiddish)" Mar 25, 2014 9,992,778
"Gangsta's Paradise - Vintage 1920's Al Capone Style Coolio Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" Mar 10, 2015 14,937,604
"Say Something - Jazz / Soul A Great Big World Cover ft. Hudson Thames" Apr 2, 2014 12,566,607 feat. Hudson Thames
"Wake Me Up - Mariachi Style Avicii / Aloe Blacc Cover en Español" Dec 4, 2013 8,038,439
"Gentleman (Vintage 1920s Gatsby - Style Psy Cover)" May 21, 2013 6,716,868
"Don't You Worry Child (Vintage 'Great Gatsby' Style Swedish House Mafia Cover)" Apr 24, 2013 7,530,255
"Wiggle - Vintage 1920s Broadway Jason Derulo / Snoop Dogg Cover" Jul 22, 2014 6,902,173
"Just (Tap) Dance - Vintage 1940's Jazz Lady Gaga Cover" Nov 19, 2013 4,728,331
"Beauty and a Beat (Vintage 1940's Swing Justin Bieber / Nicki Minaj Cover)" May 1, 2013 5,903,187
"Die Young - "Kesha Gone Country" Wild West Ke$ha Cover" Feb 27, 2013 4,621,502
"Problem - Vintage '50s Doo-Wop Ariana Grande Cover ft. The Tee - Tones" Sep 9, 2014 4,620,317 feat. the Tee-Tones
"Come and Get It - Vintage 1940s Jazz Selena Gomez Cover" Aug 5, 2013 5,160,673 [14]
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Vintage 1912 Bioshock Infinite - Style Waltz Cover" Aug 19, 2014 5,025,852
"Like a Prayer - Vintage 1940's Swing Madonna Cover" May 13, 2014 4,904,550
"I Kissed A Girl - Vintage '50s Doo Wop Katy Perry Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" Jul 16, 2015 10,861,023 [32]
"We Found Love - Vintage Jazz Rihanna / Calvin Harris Cover" Apr 15, 2014 2,732,258
"Birthday - Vintage Doo Wop / Soul Katy Perry Cover ft. The Tee - Tones" Jun 3, 2014 1,954,662 feat. the Tee-Tones
"Summer - Vintage Latin Style Calvin Harris Cover" Oct 21, 2014 1,841,675
"Paper Planes - Vintage 1940's Style MIA Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" Apr 16, 2015 1,914,888
"Young and Beautiful - Vintage 1920's Lana Del Rey / Great Gatsby Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" Jan 7, 2014 6,061,544
"Hollaback Girl - Vintage Swing Gwen Stefani Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" Apr 14, 2016 1,458,854
"Cold Water - Vintage Bluegrass / Folk / Old Time Major Lazer Cover ft. Robyn Adele Anderson" September 15, 2016 1,178,369
Total view count: February 3, 2017 over 181 million views
Totals do not include music videos where Anderson performed in a backup vocalist capacity

She also appears performing backup vocals on at least one video with Postmodern Jukebox:

"Rude - Vintage 1950s Sock Hop - Style MAGIC! Cover ft. Von Smith" published July 15, 2014

References

  1. ^ a b c Kevin Fallon (September 11, 2013). "Doo-Wop 'We Can't Stop': Behind the Ridiculously Good Miley Cyrus Cover". The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 7, 2016. Robyn's actually my girlfriend. We dated for about a year before I put her in one of the videos, too. "Thrift Shop" I wasn't even familiar with at the top, and she was one day just sort of singing it in jazz style. I thought, We should do video of this. And we did and posted it. It was her first video singing in public. And that has over 2 million views now.
  2. ^ a b "Talking Tunes With Postmodern Jukebox". Pollstar. May 1, 2014. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016. Also, the singers have a lot of good ideas. Robyn Adele Anderson, for instance, came up with the melody for "Thrift Shop". We worked together and she worked out a melody to put the rap into the ragtime melody I put behind it.
  3. ^ a b c "Doo-Wop 'We Can't Stop': Behind the Ridiculously Good Miley Cyrus Cover". The Daily Beast. September 11, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2017. The band made their breakthrough with the cover of British hip-hop artist Macklemore's Grammy Award-winning song "Thrift Shop", which was sung by vocalist Robyn Adele Anderson in the style of the '30s. The video of the cover received millions of YouTube hits and made the band's name heard by the masses.
  4. ^ "YouTube phenomenon to perform in Ankara". Daily Sabah. Istanbul. March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016. Featuring Ella Fitzgerald by way of Adele vocals from singer Robyn Anderson, the rendition classes up the song without losing any of its let's-party appeal.
  5. ^ a b Eric Felten (May 23, 2013). "A Jazz Band Has the Pop Scene Covered". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  6. ^ a b "A bizarro world of pop music | Postmodern Jukebox | TEDxFoggyBottom". Youtube.com. TEDx Talks. May 3, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2016. Led by Scott Bradlee (Sleep No More, Bioshock Infinite) and featuring charismatic chanteuse Robyn Adele Anderson, Postmodern Jukebox brings Jazz Age and Old Hollywood sensibilities to today's most popular artists by transforming their hits into swing, hot jazz, ragtime, and doo wop. Since their inception in February of 2013, they've amassed over 27 million views on YouTube, spent several weeks on the Billboard Jazz charts, and landed a featured performance on ABC's Good Morning America.
  7. ^ "Singer with local roots makes vintage go viral". The Daily Gazette. August 13, 2019. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  8. ^ Darian Lusk (October 4, 2013). "BU grad takes pop music back in time". Pipe Dream. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016. We're living in the age of the YouTube famous, a time when a music group with enough talent and originality can go viral overnight. That's the case with Postmodern Jukebox, a band that puts old-time twists on current pop songs. But they're more than a viral YouTube phenomenon; their lead singer is actually a Binghamton University graduate.
  9. ^ "Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence". binghamton.edu. 2011. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  10. ^ Dave Vose (Fall 2010). "Planet Library" (PDF). binghamton.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  11. ^ Brody, Danielle (December 15, 2017). "Astoria singer stars in viral vintage covers of modern hits with band Postmodern Jukebox". QNS.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  12. ^ Justin Colletti (January 8, 2015). "Postmodern Jukebox: The Making of a Multi-Million View YouTube Music Channel". SonicScoop. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  13. ^ "Guns n' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine' Like You've Never Heard It Before". Blabbermouth.net. February 14, 2014. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016. Postmodern Jukebox actually originated as a musical concept created by our bandleader/pianist Scott Bradlee," lead singer Robyn Adele Anderson told Pipe Dream last year. "He came up with the term some years ago when he first started covering songs in different genres. I loved the idea but didn't get involved until February of [2013] when Scott first asked me to be in a video (our vintage 'Thrift Shop' cover) and we've continued to make videos together ever since.
  14. ^ a b c Kevin Fallon (September 11, 2013). "Doo-Wop 'We Can't Stop': Behind the Ridiculously Good Miley Cyrus Cover". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 29, 2016. Robyn Adele Anderson, the woman singing these songs, is like jaw-droppingly good. Insanely good. Tell me all about her.
  15. ^ Chris Baker (May 23, 2013). "Postmodern Jukebox goes viral with jazzy YouTube cover of "Thrift Shop"". Syracuse Media Group. Retrieved April 7, 2016. Robyn Adele Anderson is the group's charismatic lead singer. An upstate native, she moved to New York City two years ago, hoping to start a career in music. "I wasn't sure I would ever end up singing in the real world," she said. "But now we've got millions of people watching us on YouTube." Anderson grew up in Delmar, N.Y., just outside of Albany. She studied political science at SUNY Binghamton and moved to New York City after graduating in 2011.
  16. ^ Kristen Grennan (May 19, 2013). "Exclusive Interview with Postmodern Jukebox's Robyn Adele Anderson". Sensible Reason. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c "Robyn Adele (Vol. 1), by Robyn Adele Anderson". Robyn Adele Anderson. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  18. ^ "Postmodern Jukebox's Robyn Adele Anderson To Join KpopStarz Music Reviews Staff". KpopStarz. January 29, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  19. ^ BWW News Desk (April 18, 2015). "Speakeasy Dollhouse Transforms Times Square's Liberty Theater for ZIEGFELD'S MIDNIGHT FROLIC, Beginning Tonight". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  20. ^ "Speakeasy Dollhouse - Robyn Adele Anderson". Speakeasy Dollhouse. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  21. ^ BWW News Desk (April 5, 2016). "flexCO to Present THE FLYING DOCTOR BY MOLIERE (OVER AND OVER AND OVER)". Broadway World. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016. The cast is a dynamic mix of young actor/musicians and features Robyn Adele Anderson (from the acclaimed band Postmodern Jukebox); Kat Blackwood; Patrick Brady; Kathryn Fray (Pushing Daisy for MuSE); Jessica Greenwald; Sara Jecko; and Josh Wolonick (Othello at American Theatre of Actors).
  22. ^ Matthew Blank (March 18, 2015). "Photo Call: Phillipa Soo, Ephraim Sykes, Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Zak Resnick, Adam Kantor and More Bare It All With Skivvies". Playbill. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  23. ^ "Robyn Adele to Cover NSYNC, Nirvana, Amy Winehouse and More at Feinstein's/54 Below". BroadwayWorld.com. August 29, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  24. ^ Robyn Adele - Vol. 4, retrieved January 25, 2022
  25. ^ Robyn Adele Anderson - Platinum Collection, retrieved January 25, 2022
  26. ^ Robyn Adele Anderson - A Very Vintage Christmas, retrieved January 25, 2022
  27. ^ "Scott Bradlee". AllMusic. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  28. ^ a b "Postmodern Jukebox feat. Robyn Adele Anderson". Youtube.com. Postmodern Jukebox. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  29. ^ "Postmodern Jukebox". YouTube.com. Postmodern Jukebox. April 2, 2016. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  30. ^ a b Gary Black (September 30, 2015). "Postmodern Jukebox, ranked". NewsMiner. Fairbanks, Alaska. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  31. ^ Sarah Barness (September 23, 2013). "This Is What 'Blurred Lines' Sounds Like As A Bluegrass Barn Dance". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 29, 2016. The catchiness is undeniable, and when you mix in a banjo with the incredible vocals of Robyn Adele Anderson, you gotta crack a (toothless) smile.
  32. ^ Lindsey Robertson (July 17, 2015). "Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' gets a doo-wop makeover". Mashable. Retrieved March 29, 2016. Robyn Adele Anderson totally nails it in this Postmodern Jukebox cover of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl". With some backup help from The Tee Tones, the band performs a totally killer doo-wop cover of the pop classic.

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