Jody Marie Gnant
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Jody Marie Gnant (the "g" is pronounced) is an American singer-songwriter. She was born April 16, 1978 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and currently owns and runs an art gallery in Phoenix, Arizona.
At age 19, Gnant first received attention when she co-composed and sang on the soundtrack to Casey K. Sipes's 1996 computer game, Treasure Quest starring Terry Farrell. Some of the songs were co-written by Grammy award winning producer Richard Feldman. Jody's tunes appeared in instrumental in the game and vocal excerpts appeared when certain objects were picked up. The full versions of the songs, though not the instrumentals, were included on a separate CD designated Treasure Quest: The Soundtrack.
She received international attention when she became involved with Kyle MacDonald, who offered to trade a red paperclip and eventually traded up for a new place to live. One item he was eventually traded was a recording contract. When Gnant heard about this, she traded MacDonald her duplex rent for a year in exchange for the contract. The massive publicity surrounding the trade has given Jody’s musical career a jump-start on the national scene and a star was born. She was also able to meet numerous celebrities including Alice Cooper and Corbin Bernsen.
In the Phoenix area, she began performing her original, more personal work, accompanied by the monicker, "Bohemian Geek Soul". She moved to a newly-renovated arts district that was making the transition from hop-house to Bohemian artist community. While she thought of moving to New York or Los Angeles, the nascent scene was inspiring to her.
Her follow up to ‘Treasure Quest-The Soundtrack’ is an album titled ‘Pivot’. This album demonstrates her diversity as a songwriter. In the Latin –influenced tune, “Me Who Changed” Jody speaks directly to the painful situation of a relationship that came to an end and the screaming anger and crying shames that comes out in these situations. .
Jody Gnant’s writes songs that encompass stories of innocence, lost loves, vanity, and pointed self-reflection. She writes and performs songs about life as we know it - and life as we want it to be.
She seems to excel in writing songs for specific situations like soundtracks. Her first full length album “Treasure Quest- the Soundtrack” was written as a companion to a best-selling video game of the same title. According her official website, Ms. Gnant is also writing and recording songs for Corbin Bernsen’s feature film “Donna on Demand” as well as numerous theme songs and original works for programs on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Also, she plans to include some of her songs on the upcoming Dreamworks feature film “One Red Paperclip”.