Liz Vice has always had a love for storytelling. The Portland native who currently resides in Brooklyn, started her career working behind the scenes in the world of film and video, only to accidentally find herself behind the mic. Liz Vice’s sound is a fusion of Gospel and R&B, with dynamic and and soulful vocals, and lyrics, deeply rooted in spirituality, that give her work a timeless feel.
Vice got a knack for performing early. She was raised by her mother as the middle of five children. Every morning growing up, she was awaken by her Mother’s voice singing “rise and shine and give God the glory glory.” She also found herself frequently stealing away to the basement to dance and lip sync songs from the radio, and soundtracks from her favorite films. Liz taught herself how to play piano, marking the notes on the piano using blue painter’s tape on the the notes of a keyboard, placed by her friends who were taking piano lessons. Her Aunt bought her h headphones, that she would make young Liz sit with on her head in the living room for hours mimicking the notes she would here from an instrumental CD.
At the age of 19, Vice’s health declined, and she found herself on hemodialysis for the next three years. Her illness left many scars on her body including those from surgery on a fistula (abnormal connection between an organs). Vice received a kidney transplant in December 2005, which marked the beginning of a time of great healing and perspective. A year later, Vice became a member of a local church and felt a nudge, that would not leave her alone each Sunday, to sing background vocals on the worship team. Suffering from stage fright, Vice knew that fear could never overpower this unknown “call”. She said yes to the nudge and sang her first solo during a Sunday evening service, “Enfold Me”. The rest is history.
For the past four years, Vice’s music and live performances have put her on the map as an artist to watch. She has been praised and featured by Oregon Public Broadcasts’ One Song, NPR’s World Cafe, Mountain Stage, eTown, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Relevant Magazine, and more. Vice has also been a featured artist in Portland for such events as Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, Moon River, Forecastle, Portland Soundcheck, Soul’d Out Music Festival, Siren Nation Music Festival, Music on Main Street and more.
The title track for her first album, There’s a Light, received over one million streams on Spotify. The success of the record led to performing and/or sharing the stage with artists such as Joss Stone, Blind Boys of Alabama, Boz Scaggs, The Temptations, Rodriguez, Lake Street Dive, Lecrae, Cody Chesnutt, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Eric Early of (Blitzen Trapper), John Mark McMillan, Sandra McCracken, Josh Garrels, Tunde Baiyewu (Lighthouse Family), Luz Mendoza (Y La Bamba), Eshon Burgundy (Humble Beast), and more.
No matter how large the venue, her genuine approach to her work and playful interaction with the audience makes everyone feel like their sitting at home on the couch watching a friend sing their heart out. Vice is very passionate and has overcome many personal obstacles; she credits her adventurous life to not forcing anything and being willing and available to wherever it is that the LORD leads. "It's all about risk, and taking risk is never regretful...well, most of the time.”
