PAULA MURRAY bass and vocals

Paula Murray was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and grew up in Tempe, Arizona. From documenting her dreams, to abstract illustrations of the names of each weekday, she was encouraged in poetry from an early age by her father, a Romantic literature professor. Influenced by his boundless record collection, she discovered a love for lyrics and vocal harmonies by way of the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Bessie Smith, Sly & The Family Stone and ELO. Later she pirated her older brother's Elton John, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix. Motivated by a growing affinity for soul music, she moved on to find George Clinton, Earth Wind & Fire, Prince and numerous other R&B bands of the day, and found the answer to her instinctual thirst for structure: the bass guitar.

After college, art school, and a multitude of jam sessions on front steps and back porches, the first band to stick was Sugar Marie, based in Minneapolis. Starting out as a duo with singer/songwriter and guitarist Christopher Erickson, it grew to as many as five, including bassist/guitarist Steve Murray (no relation), percussionist extraoridinaire Christopher Yoerks, and occasionally keyboardist Reginald Tulk and guitarist Jeff Valenta. Sugar Marie produced two records and toured much of the upper midwest.

On to San Francisco, and the Paula Murray Trio (PM3) - comprised of guitarist Ralph Spight (Victims Family) and Kevin Carnes (The Broun Fellinis), they were known among collegues as "the best band you've never heard". Paula played in plenty of other projects, both live and in the studio, to round out the schedule.

In a move toward settling down once her first niece was born, Paula decided in 2002 to move back to Arizona to be closer to family. It was there she met drummer Rob Speck at a crowded jam session, where they recognized each other as The Real Thing. Their duo, Nightcap Symphony, provided a promising start to an enduring musical friendship and multiple endeavors. No one was at all surprised at the immediate chemistry between Paula, Hugh, James and Rob, which brings us to the here and now: The Obligations.