ZZ Ward
Quick Facts
Biography
ZZ Ward (born Zsuzsanna Eva Ward, June 2, 1986) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. She is signed to Boardwalk Entertainment Group and Hollywood Records. ZZ Ward is also managed by E. Kidd Bogart's Boardwalk Music Group. 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 February 3, 2013, staying there for 10 weeks, and also broke into the top 40 on the Billboard Alternative chart. Notable live appearances include sets at 2014's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, and a short tour with Eric Clapton.
History
Ward was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. Ward lived in Abington as a child before moving to Roseburg, Oregon, where she joined her first band, with her father, at the age of 12. Ward recalls the first song she sang was "an Albert King track called 'As the Years Go Passing By'". She moved to Los Angeles and signed to E. Kidd Bogart's Boardwalk Entertainment Group, after which she began work on her debut album, which included work with Kendrick Lamar, Ryan Tedder, Pete Rock, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Theron "Neff-U" Feemster and Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums. While making the Criminal EP, Ward also began work on Eleven Roses, a free mix-tape on which she offered her interpretations of recent tracks by Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino and Tyler, the Creator. For "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 in May 2012, and features the songs "Til the Casket Drops", "Put the Gun Down", "Move Like U Stole It", and "Criminal" (feat. Freddie Gibbs). Ward's debut album, Til the Casket Drops, was released October 16, 2012.
Ward performed her first single from the album, "Put The Gun Down", on VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagen 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 VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live, both on March 7, 2013 and was serviced to AAA radio May 21, 2013. In May 2013, ZZ Ward, in conjunction with her second single release, launched her "365 Days of ZZ Ward" app which, according to Mashable, "uses Facebook's Open Graph to browse users' Facebook activity and plot their ZZ Ward-tagged status updates, photos and videos."
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 the artist 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 just 11 years old.
She performed "365 Days" 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.
Songs in TV and film
- "Last Love Song" – ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars Summer 2014 promo; The Vineyard (TV series)
- "Til the Casket Drops" – ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars Season 3 Promo
- "Move Like U Stole It" – Season 2 finale of MTV's Awkward; Season 4 of Showtime's Shameless; The Good Wife Season 5 Promo
- "Criminal" – Veronica Mars
- "Charlie Ain't Home" – VH1's Single Ladies (TV series), Justified (TV series)
- "365 Days" – The View Opening Theme Song
- "Put the Gun Down" – We're the Millers
- "Home" – The Vineyard (TV series)
- "Got It Bad" – Ironside (2013 TV series)
- "Blue Eyes Blind" – Degrassi ; Season 13 Episode 35 : Hypnotize
- "Criminal" – Reckless – Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot
- "ZZ Ward – Last Love Song (from ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars")". YouTube. April 24, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- "OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: ZZ Ward "Til the Casket Drops"". youtube.com. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
- "The Good Wife Season 5 Promo". YouTube. August 26, 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-12. Saving Hope Season 1 Episode 1 (Pilot)
- "Veronica Mars: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: CDs & Vinyl". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- "ZZ Ward". Pollstar. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- "We're the Millers (2013) : Soundtracks". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US | US Rock | |||
Til the Casket Drops |
| 72 | 31 |
|
This Means War |
| — | — |
Extended plays
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
US | ||
Criminal |
| — |
Love and War |
| — |
Mixtapes
Title | Details |
---|---|
Eleven Roses |
|
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | US Adult | US Alt | US Dance | |||||
"Put the Gun Down" | 2012 | — | — | 39 | — | Til the Casket Drops | ||
"Criminal" (featuring Freddie Gibbs) | 2013 | — | — | — | — | |||
"365 Days" | — | 28 | — | — | ||||
"Last Love Song" | 2014 | — | 30 | — | 19 | |||
"Love 3x" | 2015 | — | — | — | 5 | This Means War | ||
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released |
As featured artist
Song | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"See the World" (Blended Babies featuring Asher Roth, Chuck Inglish and ZZ Ward) | 2013 | N/A |
"Parties at the Disco" (Asher Roth featuring ZZ Ward) | 2014 | RetroHash |
"Breath of Me" (Robben Ford featuring ZZ Ward) | 2015 | Into the Sun |
"Hold My Heart" (Lindsey Stirling featuring ZZ Ward) | 2016 | Brave Enough |