Annie Wells Biography

Annie Wells lives in a house  surrounded by trees at the foot of Pinnacle Hill in Rochester, New York. On the second floor of that house, she writes songs on a 1903 Chickering standard grand piano. Jeff Spevak of Gannett newspaper says that she has “one of the nicest singing voices around” and the late, great Chuck Cuminale said her voice “is amazing.” But  Annie Wells is more than just another pretty voice; she has a passion for creating songs that travel both to the dark places of the heart and to the light of hope.

Annie grew up listening to Keith Jarrett, Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Joan Armatrading, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Laura Nyro, to name a few. On her new 13 track CD, Tell Me, the jazz influences are clear. Some have called Annie’s music a hybrid; not exactly jazz, not exactly pop — think “Nora Jones with an edge” perhaps. The songs needed jazz players so Annie recruited Eastman School of Music grads, Dave Tedeschi on drums, Jesse Breheney on upright bass and Wes Smith on tenor sax. Ed Marris played a 1958 Sonola accordion on “Little Sparrow.” Phillip Marshall, longtime friend, sideman and fellow songwriter played guitar on several tracks. Finally, Annie chose to work with the superb recording engineer, Steve Forney at the Studios at Linden Oaks. The result is “a recording I am so proud of,” Annie says, “All of the talented people involved in Tell Me made my vision for these songs come together in a beautiful way.”

Annie performed her first songs at the age of seventeen at an open mic in Bloomington, Indiana. Since then she has independently released 4 CD’s. Annie performs as a soloist and with a band in all kinds of venues: coffee houses and clubs, large and small.

Reviews of her well received albums note the sophistication of her music and lyrics and the beauty of her voice.

View a video of Annie performing and being interviewed on RNews.

Listen to tracks from Annie Well's newest release, "Tell Me."

View a video of Annie performing and being interviewed on RNews.

“I think, for me, being able to create is psychologically necessary. I have an internal motivation to express myself, but I also want to present it in a way that people will connect with.”