Leslie Stoddard

Band – Cause For Concern played at 1999 LA music Awards

Leslie was exposed to music at an early age. Her mother, a child prodigy from the Philippines, was an established performer while Leslie was growing up in Southern California. Leslie picked up the guitar while she was attending high school. She took private guitar lessons and spent hours listening to records and playing along with them. While attending college as a drama major, Leslie worked in a radio station and became exposed to the commercial breakthrough of female performers like The Go-Go’s, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Deborah Harry of Blondie, The Bangles, along with a host of others. This inspired her to form her own all-girl group called Cause for Concern. She was the main songwriter along with singer Suzanne Graham. The band recorded their first album in 1991 and appeared live on KROQ. Heavily influenced by the punk rock explosion and the girls just wanna have fun era, their songs received airplay on the Rodney on the Roq show, KEZY and KLOS radio stations. They had a decade of success opening for such notables as The Doobie Brothers, Flock of Seagulls, Missing Persons, Gene Loves Jezebel and Starship. Leslie honed her skills and versatility while working with touring bands, top producers News. Cause For Concern was featured in many music magazines, local newspapers and cable television shows. Leslie had six of her songs, which were penned with the group, used in the independent film On the Outs, still touring the film festivals worldwide.

After the breakup of Cause For Concern in 2001, Leslie attended the Berklee College of Music summer in L.A program. That was the catalyst to find female musicians that were talented enough to form a new group. In 2003, she formed the group Gia’s Fix, a super talented band of accomplished musicians from Los Angeles and Orange County. Mixing rock and pop elements, blending in some folk and blues, Gia’s Fix immediately caught and promoters. Her band received numerous awards from The LA Music Awards and Rock City the attention of the industry. “Gia’s Fix is the total package-hot pop-rock song that exude sexuality and ooze with desire, “ wrote Bob Leggett of Music Connection Magazine. Gia’s Fix regularly appeared at top-notch venues like The House of Blues, The Roxy, The Galaxy, The Viper Room and NASCAR performing for thousands of spectators. They performed at The HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen and sold out The Cutting Room in New York City. Music Connection Magazine voted them as one of the top 100 unsigned bands. Their debut record, Raw was nominated by The LA Music Awards in 2004 for best indie-pop album. They appeared in Rolling Stone and Guitar Player Magazine. The latter featured Leslie and stated “Leslie Stoddard’s tasty guitar rave-ups strike a wonderful balance between melodic expression and tortured drama.” Three more songs from the Gia’s Fix record were picked up for film and commercial use.

2007 was spent mostly touring with BandShe, an all-female group from Los Angeles. She spent January in Kosovo entertaining the US military and traveled to Kuwait and Iraq in early May performing for thousands of troops in Southern and Northern Iraq. The tour ended at Sadaam Hussein’s Palace in Baghdad. “I am so proud to be part of those tours, the experience has enriched my life.”

In addition, Leslie has contributed her guitar stylings on albums recorded by artists such as Holly Heaven, Kris Searle and others. Currently, she is the host of Young Talent Night, a regular monthly series showcasing performers age 7-17. The latest buzz, Cause For Concern has reunited and seems to have picked up where they left off. Playing clubs in the Hollywood area stating, “I am excited to be debuting material that we will be recording on our next record.“
For further information, visit:
www.myspace.com/guitarmuse
www.giasfix.com
www.patsygrind.com
www.myspace.com/giasfixband