Early success, Island Records and The Burdens of Being Upright (1994–1997) In 1994, Bonham started writing music and released her first song, "The One", which appeared on the compilation album
Girl, released through the Boston-based Curve of the Earth label. Thereafter, she sent a four-song
demo tape (featuring "The One") to
Brett Milano, music critic of
The Boston Phoenix, in June 1994; Milano praised the demo, and a major label bidding war occurred shortly thereafter. In 1995, Bonham issued her debut
EP,
The Liverpool Sessions, through the
CherryDisc label, which brought her additional local acclaim; after its release, she signed to
Island Records. The song's music video won the award for Best Video at the 1996 Boston Music Awards, and also received nominations at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1997 for
Best New Artist in a Video.'
Bonham hoped to make an album that would better reflect her classical influences and serve as a more mature outing. However, in May 1998, Island Records' parent company,
PolyGram, was purchased by beverage giant
Seagram for $10.6 billion; as part of Seagram's purchase, PolyGram was merged into
Universal Music Group, and Island Records was reconsolidated into
The Island Def Jam Music Group umbrella label. The restructurings delayed the release of the album to 1999. The album received generally positive reviews, but struggled to find an audience in a musical climate dominated by
nu metal, and experienced virtually no radio airplay.
Other activities and Bee EP (2001–2003) She then left studio recording behind and began to tour in support of other groups such as the
performance group Blue Man Group and even
rock band Aerosmith. In 2003 she recorded and released an independent
EP titled
Bee. It included early versions of "Shine" and "All Thumbs" and a live version of "Freed" (from
Down Here), and a cover of
Led Zeppelin's "
Black Dog", where she substituted violin solos for the signature
lead guitar line in the original. She had only pressed 1,000 hoping to sell 500, but she eventually sold over 12,000 of the EP's while on the various tours. With the money made from the EP she returned to the studio to start work on her third full-length LP in Los Angeles,
California. in which Bonham and then-manager
Darren Paltrowitz were interviewed about
Masts of Manhatta. In celebration of Paul McCartney's 70th birthday on June 18, 2012, Bonham, Mike Viola and Danish singer
Tim Christensen performed the
Ram album with
The Damn Crystals at Vega in Copenhagen.
Wax & Gold and Modern Burdens (2015–present) After 2015's
Wax & Gold, Bonham released a re-recorded version of her debut album entitled
Modern Burdens in 2017. ==Personal life==