After writing and arranging the songs acapella from beginning to end, Yakova worked with several other talented musicians for a full band recording, self produced and completed in eight months.
Yakova's vocal career began in 2001 with classical voice lessons
from former Principal tenor of The Metropolitan Opera, Dana Talley, from New York City. Later on,
she became the student of a prestigous rock voice coach who works with MTV and VHI,
and who currently coaches some of the most major pop/rock artists of today.
Her vocal quality comes from this combination of perhaps the
best voice coaches in their fields – one accomplished classical instructor and
the industry revered rock/pop vocal guru whose clients include Christina Aguilera, Joss Stone, Bono from U2, Whitney Houston, and a list of others.
Musicians on the recordings include Paul Strayfer, writer of all
guitar on Crush, Freezing, Test Drive, and Passionless; Geoffrey Hale, pianist
on Crush and Freezing; DJ and Producer Adam Hayes who worked with Yakova on
Disarm Me; Seth Johnson, drummer, in Crush, Freezing, Test Drive, and
Passionless; and Jason Marcus on bass on the same tracks as well. Once all
artists had recorded their instruments, Yakova spent hours upon hours in the
studio mixing and producing all the tracks with the help of engineer Mike Anzel.
As for the name "Yakova," you might have already wondered what it means. "It's
my real name, not made up for music; it’s not a ‘stage name’. My mom gave me
this ‘Hebrew name’ as a baby. Hebrew names don’t go on birth certificates and
sometimes don't ever get used."
When asked what she plans to do from this point forward, Yakova says "I’ll ride
this wave where it takes me. We’ll see who I meet, and
what kinds of ideas are conceived as I continue to write."
Have fun perusing this site, and remember that you can contact Yakova directly
through the "contact" link on the menu. Enjoy!