Meet Phoebe Silva

I’ve been playing music and performing my entire life, though it’s taken a while to find my footing as an artist. I was classically trained as a violinist from age 3, and performed in theater and dance all throughout my childhood, as well as playing in orchestras and taking voice lessons. I went to college for musical theater and had my heart set on Broadway, which never quite planned out despite my spending 7 years in New York pounding the pavement and waiting tables. I started writing songs about seven years ago after spending a summer in Alaska performing at a dinner theater. I met a guy there and he and I started playing gigs together and writing together. Long story short, I landed in LA almost 5 years ago knowing I needed to play music but not quite knowing what that would look like. I was in a few bands and played lots of session gigs before I finally got up the courage to start performing my own music as a solo artist in 2018.

Nah, very little has come easily to me, including self-confidence. I was a really neurotic kid and a total perfectionist all the way through college. My parents always had super high standards for me creatively and academically and I used to beat myself up like crazy for making any mistakes. I had to work hard to break through those mental and emotional limitations. You can’t really be free to create until you allow yourself to fail and flail. I’ve had to do a lot of work on myself to overcome the effects of a lot of early childhood emotional abuse. The guy I started writing songs with and I also had a really toxic relationship that lead me to have a kind of nervous breakdown, which is why I left New York. In retrospect, I’m so glad things worked out the way they did… I’m a thousand times happier in this phase of my life than I ever was before. I had to go through a lot of shit to figure out who I was, and I take nothing for granted now. I know how to work hard and I’m super resilient, resourceful and stubborn as hell. That has served me well.

So I’m a freelance creative artist. That’s the easiest way to summarize what I do. My main focus is music. I am a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, session violinist, music teacher as well as a visual artist. I work in a lot of mediums though music is sort of the through-line these days. I’ve done a little bit of everything in the music industry aside from maybe A&R.. but I used to be a music critic for a few websites, I worked at a recording studio, I’ve logged tons of studio time, I perform my own music, and I style and visually curate all of my social media, including photo shoots and music videos. I think versatility is my greatest strength, as well as my ability to collaborate. I sort of became known in LA first for being a violinist, though I’ve been challenging and consciously evolving the public perception of my capabilities. You can hire me to teach your kids to play the violin, to sing, to create custom artwork, and I create my own projects all the time with the help of my talented friends who are skilled in a variety of artistic mediums.

Man, that’s a good question. It’s always evolving I suppose. Generally, my goal has always been to make a living as a freelance creative artist which I mostly do now. I don’t have to punch a clock or work for anyone else anymore. That’s success in and of itself. Creating work I’m proud of and believe in in collaboration with other artists who inspire me is success. I’d love to be able to expand my ability to create more freely, in terms of scale and budget. Being respected and known within the industry I work in is important to me. Maintaining a reputation of integrity. And continually challenging myself to grow and expand in my technique, vision, and audience reach. I see no final end goal for myself. I always want to be evolving until I drop dead. I also believe that being successful is a mindset, much like being happy. If you spend your days lamenting where you’re not rather than being present and appreciative of where you are, you will never find contentment. Short term goal setting is key for me; I strive to never limit my imagination.