With Summer 2008 coming to a close, Nadine Zahr has much to celebrate. Over 250 performances successfully completed, thousands of digital downloads and albums purchased and distributed, performances with Ani Difranco and other internationally-known artists, continuous radio play, and songs on CBS Television, MTV, and Lifetime Television.

"I've been having the time of my life," Nadine states, "the fans, the travel, the shows, the opportunities... I'm like a kid in a candy shop."

Nadine began focusing on a professional music career when she was 19 years old. Raised in the suburbs of New York City, her passion for performing started at the tender age of 6 years old, but she was not able to focus solely on the arts until she was old enough to leave home. Both of Nadine's parents were raised in the war-ridden Middle East, and in 1975, they had fled their home country for the United States. 5 years after their immigration, Nadine was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey. 6 months after her birth, her family moved to the suburbs of New York City, where she was raised. In 1987, Nadine's parents split, and she and her 2 sisters were raised primarily by her Mother.

"Making a career out of the performing arts was something completely foreign to my Mother," Nadine recalls, "so I found myself in constant conflict between my own dreams and her aspirations for me."

After performing on Broadway at the age of 12 and spending her high school years performing in the black-boxes of the Julliard School, Nadine found herself completely in love with the performing arts. Ironically, making music was still just a sideline hobby.

"During the time I was on Broadway, my oldest sister was given an acoustic guitar for her birthday. Whenever she wasn't home, I would go into her room and play it. When she complained that she couldn't play her guitar because it hurt her fingers too much, I borrowed it again, but this time, I never gave it back."

After only a few lessons, Nadine began writing songs.

"It became my outlet. I was an angry girl growing up, with a lot of pent up emotion, but the guitar became my couch and my lyrics became my therapist. I broke a lot of strings and cracked a lot of notes during that time."

At the age of 18, Nadine was accepted to a University in Washington, D.C. for Music Theater. That lasted about one year.

"After my freshman year at CUA, I had decided that 14 years of schooling was enough for me. I was old enough to be on my own, legally, and my Mother couldn't say no to me anymore, so I withdrew from school."

Prior to her withdrawal, however, Nadine sold her car to purchase a nicer guitar than the one she was still borrowing from her sister, as well as buy some studio time in the basement recording studio of her music school.

"It was a studio designed for opera singers and orchestras, but I was just elated to be in a place that actually could record me from an actual CONTROL ROOM! It all felt so fancy."

She recorded her first demo, "The First Stage," in 2 hours, using only one take per track.

"I was a kid back then, just wanting to have something to give people. I wanted so badly to be noticed and recognized for something that was all me, the-heart-exposed-on-sleeve-me."

She did just that, and sold 750 copies of her demo in just 2 months of being on campus. That was when her dreams began to shift from the performing arts to making music.

Offers to move out to Los Angeles presented themselves during the summer after her freshman year. Without her Mother's consent, and at the age of 19, Nadine dropped out of College and moved across the country on her own.

"I had never been to Los Angeles before, so I didn't know where to go or what to do. I just knew I wanted to make music for the rest of my life."

After landing in Los Angeles, Nadine found the offers that enticed her to move there were all just empty promises, and she would have to start from ground zero. So she did. While sleeping on the floor for a few years and working odd jobs in the restaurant and retail industries, Nadine began to frequent the popular open mics that Los Angeles offered. Quickly, she became noticed for her four-octave range voice, her showmanship, and her candid lyricism. Booking agents and venue owners began to approach her for full-set performances. While working full-time, Nadine also pursued her career full-time, and was quoted as, "one of the hardest working female singer/songwriters in LA."

Building a local fan base from the ground up, Nadine began playing bigger and more reputable venues.

"There was a time when I would play basement bars for just one person - my best friend, but I would still play a full set and just ask if she had any requests. She always has requests, and she's still always front row."

Now, Nadine can safely say that all of her hard work has paid off. In 2006, Nadine released her debut album, "Underneath the Everyday," fully-produced by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Grandaddy, OK Go, and many more), and built a national tour that continued on for 2 years.

"Working with Dave and having access to his arsenal of incredible studio musicians brought me to tears at least once a day during our sessions. I was a heap of musical mush, listening to 9 different instruments enhance what me and my guitar had become so accustomed to. I was so moved."

After the official release of "Underneath the Everyday," Nadine booked her first National Showcase with NACA and signed a booking deal with the Auburn Moon Agency and a management deal with Degy Management Services. The rest, as they say, is history.

(Nadine is currently back home in Los Angeles preparing to go back into the studio to record her next album.)