Shanti Wintergate is a Canadian/American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. She has released two solo albums, and performed nationally at venues such as the Vans Warped Tour. In 2007, Wintergate co-authored a children's book titled I Went for a Walk.[1] She continues to collaborate with other artists and is a founding member of the children's music project Play Date. In 2014 her book I Went for a Walk won the Creative Child's 2014 Preferred Choice Award.[2]
Early life
Wintergate was born in Hollywood, California to artist/musician parents from Victoria, B.C., and was raised in the mountains of Idaho.[1] She attended the University of Victoria, and studied acting.[3] Wintergate started writing music and playing guitar as a teenager, performing at local folk festivals and other venues.[4] As a teenager, she traveled through India with a guitar, performing her own material at small venues. Further influenced by genres such as punk rock and rock during her travels,[5] she later moved to Los Angeles.[5]
Career
Early music and acting
Wintergate's debut solo album This Moment[5] was self-released on her own imprint Allone Records in 2003.[6] This led to performances at the Vans Warped Tour from 2006 to 2008,[7] and in 2007[8] memorabilia related to Wintergate was included in the Warped: 12 Years of Music, Mayhem and More exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[6][unreliable source?] She also embarked on a number of US and European tours such the Caballeros Akustika tour[9][unreliable source?] and the Vroom Vroom Vespa[9][10] acoustic tour in 2010 with Kevin Seconds, Kepi Ghouli, and Attonito.[10]
After a couple of years of hiatus and traveling on tour with her husband Greg Attonito, Shanti partnered with Canadian producer Chris Wardman (Blue Peter) and engineer Brad Haehnel[11][unreliable source?] to create what would become Stranger Days (2007)[9] and the acoustic version Stranger Days Stripped (2008).[11][unreliable source?]
She has appeared as an actress in shows such as CSI:NY,[12] where she played a roller derby girl and suspected killer.[13]
I Went for a Walk and collaborations
I Went for a Walk is a children's book authored by Wintergate and illustrated by her husband Greg Attonito in 2007.[14] The book was positively reviewed by Brian McConville of Blogcritics,[15] as well as Jackson Ellis for Verbicide Magazine.[16] In 2007 Wintergate and Atonnito toured in locales such as San Francisco doing book readings,[17] also singing the words with guitar.[18] In 2011, Wintergate and Attonito jointly exhibited their art at a month-long show in Seattle, Washington, celebrating their first opening with a mix of acoustic covers and originals from each of their catalogs.[19]
Since her solo albums Wintergate has been involved with a number of collaborations, and she appeared on Attonito's solo debut Natural Disaster in 2011.[20] She has been involved with the "Magic Monday" recording sessions at Noise Alchemy studios in Los Angeles,[9][21] for example playing guitar on a 2012 session with Billy Manzik.[21]
In 2014, I Went for a Walk won the Creative Child's 2014 Preferred Choice Award.[2] Wintergate is in the lineup "punk rock authors" to be featured in book signings at the It's Not Dead Festival in late 2015, which is put on in California by Kevin Lyman of the Warped tour.[22]
