About ZZ Ward
Zsuzsanna Eva Ward , known professionally as ZZ Ward, is an American singer-songwriter. She released her debut EP, Criminal, on May 8, 2012. Her debut album, Til the Casket Drops, was released on October 16, 2012. "Put the Gun Down", her first single, broke into the top 10 on the AAA radio chart on February 3, 2013, staying there for 10 weeks, and also broke into the top 40 on the Billboard Alternative chart. On March 2, 2017, Ward released the single "The Deep" . Her second studio album, The Storm, was released on June 30, 2017, peaking at number 1 on the Billboard Blues Albums Chart in July 2017. Her third studio album, Dirty Shine was released independently on September 8, 2023 to critical acclaim.
Born in Abington, Pennsylvania, Ward grew up in Roseburg, Oregon, where she joined her first band, with her father, at the age of 12. Ward recalled the first song she sang was "an Albert King track called 'As the Years Go Passing By'".
Ward's maternal grandmother, Zsuzsanna Friedman, was a Jewish Hungarian who converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution during the Holocaust. On discovering this, Ward, who grew up in a secular household, took an interest in reclaiming her Jewish roots.
After moving to Los Angeles and signing to E. Kidd Bogart's Boardwalk Entertainment Group, Ward began recording the Criminal EP, as well as Eleven Roses, a free mixtape on which she offered her interpretations of tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Tyler, the Creator, Freddie Gibbs and Wiz Khalifa. Eleven Roses features "Better Of Dead", "Got It Bad", "Overdue", "Criminal", "Morphine", and "Cinnamon Stix". It was released on 3 November 2011. For the recording of "Criminal", she sampled the beat from "Oil Money" by Freddie Gibbs, who was so impressed by Ward's remake that he asked to contribute a guest verse to the official version on the EP. The Criminal EP was released on May 8, 2012, and features the songs "Til the Casket Drops", "Put the Gun Down", "Move Like U Stole It", and "Criminal" .
Ward's debut album, Til the Casket Drops, was released on October 16, 2012. It includes the singles "365 Days", "Put the Gun Down" and "Last Love Song", the song "Cryin' Wolf" with Kendrick Lamar, as well as appearances from Ryan Tedder, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Theron "Neff-U" Feemster and Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums. Ward performed the album's first single, "Put the Gun Down", on VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagan on September 19, 2012, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on November 1, 2012, and Conan on January 10, 2013. In March 2013, the New York Times said of Ward, "Her energy evokes Tina Turner's, her chops Aretha Franklin's and her soul Etta James's", and she was named one of Fuse TV's 30 must-see artists at SXSW. Ward performed her second single, "365 Days", on Good Morning America and Big Morning Buzz Live, both on March 7, 2013; on the September 3, 2013, episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; and on the January 30, 2014, episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
On April 20, 2013, for Record Store Day, Ward released a limited edition 7-inch vinyl that included her cover of "Grinnin in Your Face", written and originally recorded by Son House, and a previously unreleased song, "Everybody Wants to Be Famous". The 7-inch cover features an image taken of Ward when she was 11 years-old. The following month, Ward, in conjunction with her second single release, launched her 365 Days of ZZ Ward app.
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