Channing

Channing Banks was born in Stanford, California, USA. Music has always played a great part in her life, starting with her father who used to sing on the radio in the late 50's and her grandmother Emily who raised her listening to Pavarotti. 　　Her family moved to Seattle, Washington when she was twelve years old and Channing furthered her knowledge of music by beginning to play the piano and the flute. She also began writing poetry and sung in her school choir. At 17 she finished highschool one year before her fellow classmates and took a year off to study Spanish on a small island in Mexico. During this time, she danced at a special ceremony for the coronation of the carnival queen. Upon her return to the United States she began at the University of Washington and graduated with a degree in linguistics. 　　Immediately after graduation, Channing left for a year in Taiwan where she worked as a teacher. During this year she studied Chinese and Buddism, also winning a prize in an English poetry contest. Due to a difficult language barrier, she lived a rather solitary existence, frequently painting and writing music. 　　The year after was spent in Montpellier, France where she studied interior design and perfected her French, which has been of great use to her career, giving her the chance to write songs on even French albums. The following summer of 2002, Channing decided to settle down in Italy, and from that point on, her life made a dramatic change and Channing knew that music could be her dream come true. 　　She met Larry Pignagnoli at Off Limits (Italy's leading music production company) through Paolo Pignagnoli (Musical Advisor and Talent Scout). Larry, who has been spotting talent successfully for two decades, offered her a contract and they began to work on finding the right sound and style to frame Channing's extraordinarily evocative voice.