Famous October

Biography

Brought together by music from opposites sides of the world, American Sarah Bowman and Swiss Rene Coal Burrell joined forces in music (and later in matrimony) after meeting in 2006 at a small Swiss music venue. Today, the couple is pleased to announce their debut album "One Day Baby" released on October 7, 2016.

Though both artists are from different hemispheres, it was their individual fervent pursuit of their music that inevitably brought them together. Burrell grew up in a peaceful small Swiss town at the foot of the Alps while Bowman grew up in a high crime and economically depressed neighborhood in racially tense Davenport, Iowa. By age 19, Burrell had achieved national recognition in his native Switzerland as a BMG alt-country artist, having been nominated for a Swiss PRIX WALO award and opening for Neil Young, ZZ Top and Amy Winehouse. Enamored with Americana music, Burrell stumbled upon a show in Luzern featuring the twin sister duo, The Bowmans, who had been touring internationally for four years.

On the other side of the world, Bowman had been raised on her Bronx born mother's collection of 60s protest songs and her Detroit native father's classical music. She studied cello, piano and vocal performance as well as music education, graduating with Honors from Duquesne University and Notre Dame of Maryland University. She sang as a soprano with the Baltimore Symphony Choir and worked with Yuri Temirkonov and Bobby McFerrin. Bowman and her twin sister, Claire, began singing together at coffee shops since they were 14, and eventually grew up together touring through the U.S. and Europe. Individually, Bowman and Burrell had released 4 or 5 acclaimed albums and had developed thousands of fans internationally before joining together as a duo. Their individual success set the stage for the duo’s success to come.

Since officially coming together as Famous October in 2012, Bowman and Burrell have amassed an international following with their initial tours through Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. In their first collaborative year, they won a number of prestigious Swiss music awards and were commissioned to compose an embodiment of the 300th anniversary of the great “Stans Brandnacht 1713,” an excerpt of which appears on their upcoming debut album. In addition, the duo run their business, Pillow Song, which started off as listening room for touring musicians in their rehearsal space in Stans and has grown into an international music community in which artists support one another. Pillow Song also acts as the label and management for Famous October.