SARA HICKMAN

Growing up in an artistic family, Sara was enthralled with music from an early age (as one can hear in snippets of her childhood singing on her album, Misfits, a collection of odds and ends from throughout her life and career). While attending Houston's High School for the Performing Arts, she began performing in earnest wherever she could find a stage and audience: clubs, weddings, and even psychiatric hospitals (in a tradition she still continues of social service through her music). At North Texas State University in Denton, Sara earned a B.A. in painting while starting to make her mark on the local musical scene as a solo act and an occasional guest with her friends Brave Combo. After graduation, she moved to Dallas, and recorded and co-produced Equal Scary People, which was originally released on Brave Combo's Four Dots Records. A cover story in the Dallas Observer brought her to the attention of Elektra Records, who signed her and re-released Equal Scary People. Her second album, Shortstop, yielded a #3 adult contemporary hit, "I Couldn't Help Myself," and helped her become a favorite on VH-1, where she hosted her own special, In Your Face, along with several countdown shows. When Elektra decided to shelve her third recording, Necessary Angels, Sara took her cause to her fans, who helped her raise $40,000 to buy back the masters from the label. Her determination paid off when the album was subsequently released on Discover Records to critical acclaim. Around the same time, she recorded and co-produced two albums as a member of Domestic Science Club with her friends Patty Lege and Robin Macy. As well, Sara has co-produced a documentary, Take It Like A Man, a film exploring sexism and female role models that aired on PBS and the Playboy Channel, and directed a short film about a homeless woman she knew in Dallas, Joy, that won first place at the USA Film Festival. All along, she has given her time, energy and music to a variety of worthy causes, including music therapy for geriatric, pediatric and psychiatric patients, and raising funds for Romanian orphans, Habitat for Humanity, breast cancer research, and the AIDS Resource Center of Dallas, among others.