Scarlet Rivera
Rivera at the 1976 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Rivera at the 1976 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Background information
Birth nameDonna Shea[1]
Born1950[1]
Chicago, Illinois, United States
GenresRock, Celtic, new-age, world music
Instrument(s)Violin
Years active1975–Present
LabelsBci / Eclipse Music
Websitescarletriveramusic.com

Donna Shea, better known as Scarlet Rivera[2] is an American violinist. She is best known for her work with Bob Dylan, in particular on his 1976 album Desire and as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue.[2]

Life and Career

Born Donna Shea in Joliet, Illinois,[3] Rivera was privately trained in classical violin[3] and studied at the Mannes School of Music.[4]

Bob Dylan is said to have discovered Rivera before the rehearsal for his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour. While being driven in his limousine around the Village, Dylan spotted Rivera walking with her violin case. Dylan stopped to converse with Rivera and invited her to his rehearsal studio where she spent the afternoon playing along with several of his new songs.[5] "If I had crossed the street seconds earlier," said Rivera in 2012, "it never would have happened." After a session with her, Dylan invited Rivera to play on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. She played an important role in Dylan's studio album Desire.

In 1977, Rivera released her self-titled debut LP for Warner Bros. Records. Lindsay Planer from AllMusic praised the album, saying that Rivera "has consistently found specific and viable places for the violin in rock".[6]

Rivera has recorded multiple albums as a composer in numerous styles, instrumental, new-age, Celtic[4] and world music. She has performed in the US, Europe and Japan with her Celtic group. Rivera was a soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Carnival of Venice.

She has also appeared on albums by Tracy Chapman,[2] (Crossroads), Keb Mo',[2] (The Door), Dee Dee Bridgewater (Just Family), David Johansen,[2] (David Johansen), and Indigo Girls.[2]

In recent years Rivera has recorded New Age, instrumental, World, and Celtic music. She has also toured in Japan with the US-based South American group Ritual with Uruguayans Federico Ramos and Eduardo Marquez del Signore. She recorded the album Celtic Mist which was released in Japan. She also played violin on the 2014 album After the Fall, by UK-based Dodson and Fogg.

She was a special guest artist in the band in Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration, a birthday concert held in honor of Joni Mitchell on November 7, 2018 in Los Angeles and also in the concert with Brandi Carlile for Mitchell's Blue album in October 2019.

Rivera was featured in Martin Scorsese's 2019 documentary film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story[4] and attended the premiere in New York in June 2019.[7]

Rivera released the EP All of Me in April 2020 on Bright Sun Records, singing her own songs.

In May 2021, to celebrate Bob Dylan's 80th birthday, Rivera, along with Nine Mile Station, released a new version of "Hurricane". Paul Zollo, a writer for American Songwriter said that "Her presence of sound and spirit lifts this "Hurricane" into a higher realm. The reverence she has for the song and its songwriter shines in the purity and passion of her playing."[8]

She continues to be an active recording artist, performer and composer, and is currently working on an album Celtic Magic to be released later in 2022.

Personal life

Rivera is of Irish-Sicilian ancestry.[1] She was married in 1991 to the British session keyboardist Tommy Eyre. The marriage lasted until his death in 2001.[9]

Discography

  • Scarlet Rivera (Warner Bros., 1977)
  • Scarlet Fever (Warner Bros., 1978)
  • Celtic Dreams (Bci/Eclipse Music, 1998)
  • Celtic Myst (Bci/Eclipse Music, 1998)
  • Behind the Crimson Veil – Scarlet Rivera and Tommy Eyre (Bci/Eclipse Music, 1999)
  • Celtic Spirit (Bci/Eclipse Music, 1998)[10]
  • Voice of the Animals (Scarlet Rivera, 2000)
  • Journey with an Angel (Echo Sonic, 2003)[11]
  • Magical Christmas (Bci/Eclipse Music, 2004)
  • A New Map of the World (Disconforme [Spain], 2004) by Ritual (Uruguay)
  • Hope: Intermezzo Sinfonico (Clara Luz Music BMI, 2015) by Eduardo Del Signore

With Bob Dylan

With Peter Maffay

  • Sonne in der Nacht - 1. Diese Sucht die Leben heißt, (LP,CD,Video,DVD)`` (1984) (WEA Musik)

With Dee Dee Bridgewater

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jerome, Jim. "Bob Dylan Spotted Scarlet Rivera on the Street, the Rest Is Rock History". people.com. People Magazine. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Baran-Unland, Denise (August 11, 2023). "Bob Dylan launched career of Joliet musician". The Herald-News. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Donkin, Annemarie (July 26, 2019). "Dylan's Violinist Loves Life in Topanga". Messenger Mountain News. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Datta, Shantanu (March 6, 2021). "Violin evangelist Scarlet Rivera on Bob Dylan and her musical journey". The Telegraph. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Elizabeth (January 14, 2024). "Desire - Bob Dylan". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Scarlet Rivera - Scarlet Rivera". AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ Hoffman, Jordan (12 June 2019). "Martin Scorsese's Bob Dylan "Doc": What's True, and What's Fiction?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  8. ↑ "Dylan's 80th Birthday, II: Scarlet Rivera Ignites Dylan's "Hurricane" Anew with Nine Mile Station". 19 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Perrone, Pierre "Tommy Eyre", The Independent, June 13, 2001. Accessed January 7, 2010.
  10. ↑ Apple Inc. "Celtic Spirit", January 7, 2010. Accessed January 7, 2010.
  11. ↑ Apple Inc. "Journey With An Angel", January 7, 2010. Accessed January 7, 2010.
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