Taylor Davis is an American violinist, arranger, and composer. Davis is best
known for her violin-covers of music from video games featured on her YouTube
channel "Taylor Davis", where she also features performances of her own
arrangements of music from films and musicals. From July 2013, she has begun
releasing her own original compositions as well.
During 2012 Davis released two albums and an assortment of singles. The first
album is called Gaming Fantasy, and it features tunes from various video games
arranged for violin. Six months later An Enchanted Christmas was released. In
January 2013, Davis published her third album, called Game On: 2 Player mode. It
has been co-produced and arranged along with Australian pianist Lara de Wit.
With the help of a MIDI keyboard and the DAW "Logic Pro", Davis created all of
the orchestral backtracks for these works. Legendary Movie Music, the fourth
album, was released in July 2013. In November 2013, Davis released Melodies
of Hyrule: Songs from "The Legend of Zelda", an homage to the melodies of the
famous Nintendo's video game series The Legend of Zelda, while The Anime and
Game Collection was released in July 2014. Three months later, in October,
Davis launched a crowdfunding campaign for the creation of her seventh album,
the first one made up exclusively of original music. The platform chosen for
this project is PledgeMusic. The campaign achieved its goal in around a
week, and the new album, entitled Taylor Davis, was released in March 2015 and
debuted at #10 on the Billboard Classical Charts.
Biography Taylor Davis was born March 20, 1987 at
Western Springs, Illinois. She became passionate about videogames since she
was a child, especially due to her older brother, who was often involving her in
his gaming sessions. Davis started playing violin at the age of 8, while in
elementary school, after being inspired by a young girl's performance of "Silent
Night" on the violin at a school assembly. While in middle school, Davis
had been heavily bullied, and this had been a pretty sad and lonely time for
her. This period lasted until she started attending high school, where she
met her future husband, Jarred, who shared and supported her passions and
interests, and this helped Davis to regain self-confidence. They got married
in 2011, after being best friends for 14 years. While in high school, Davis began
playing video games music, and introduced this genre into school's
ambient. Later, Davis attended Gonzaga University, and she kept introducing
video game music to the college orchestra and to the quartet members as
well. In turn, some of the game music would get played at weddings and other
gigs. Davis graduated from Gonzaga with a "magna cum laude" degree in Public
Relations, and minored in Violin Performance. After attending college,
she intended to get into the profession of scoring music for games, films, or
other media. It did not work out at the time, so she took a business job for a
short time, while at the same time posting YouTube videos on the side Davis
worked as a Marketing/PR person for a non-profilt organization until November
2011; then, she decided to quit her job, so she could concentrate all her efforts
into developing her career through YouTube.
= Curiosities= Davis' all-time favorite videogame is
"Final Fantasy VII", and among her favorite tracks to perform there's also
"Gerudo Valley", taken from "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time".
The first console Davis ever used was an "Intellivision" system.
Career and activity on YouTube Davis started her first YouTube channel
under the pseudonym "ViolinTay" on April 29, 2010 Since then, she captured media
and people's attention thanks to her top-notch technique and versatility, and
this is confirmed by the continuous growth of subscribers and video-views on
her channel. As of 2015, Davis first channel statistics are: 138 videos
posted, over 130,000,000 video-views and over 1,000,000 subscribers. Her most
popular video is entitled "He is a Pirate", where she plays an intense
re-arrangement of Klaus Badelt's track which is featured into the movie Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. On March 23, 2015, after almost
five years since the starting of her first channel, Davis started a second
YouTube channel titled "Behind the Strings", which is focused on sharing
more aspects of Davis' activity to the audience. As of 2015, second channel's
statistics are: 6 videos posted, over 5,000 subscribers and over 40,000
video-views. In October 2013 Critical Hit band's
debut took place. This is a group formed by top-notch musicians, led by Jason
Hayes and Michael Gluck. Davis joined the band in the same year, and beyond
her, Hayes and Gluck, the other band members are: keyboardist David Paich;
violinist Michelle Jade, Caroline Campbell and Molly Rogers; bassists
Carlitos del Puerto and Tim MacDonald; cellists Tina Guo, Ginger Murphy and
Leah Metzler; percussionists Doug Belote, Joel Taylor and Kevin Dooley;
guitarists Kole Hicks, Nita Strauss, Chet Stevens and Laurence Juber; pianist
Salome Scheidegger; floutists Sara Andon, Shannon Canchola, and the "World
Music" woodwinds-reeds-wind synthesizers specialist Pedro Eustache. The band
published its first album in the same period.
Davis also has performed live at a number of prestigious events all around
the world including: June 2012: performance at the E3 Expo in
Los Angeles, along with YouTube musicians Lara de Wit and Kyle Landry.
August 2012: exhibition with the College of the Holy Cross Goodtime Marching
Band. November 2012: performing Chance Thomas'
Theme for Rohan in the publicity video for the videogame The Lord of the Rings
Online. February / March 2013: exhibitions at
New York and London for the "Titanic II Global Launch event", along with Glenn
Shorrock, the band McGuinness & Co, and guitarist Sungha Jung.
March 2013: "Curse WildStar PAX East After Party" performance in Boston.
November 2013: BlizzCon concert in Anaheim, California. This was Critical
Hit band's first concert. November 2013: Wizard Entertainment
World Comic Con exhibition at Austin, Texas.
End of 2013/ January 2014: Violin soloist in the soundtrack of the new
tactical role-playing video game The Banner Saga, along with
singer-songwriters Peter Hollens, Malukah, and Johann Sigurdarson. The
soundtrack was composed by the Grammy-nominated composer Austin
Wintory. April 2014: Davis' first two own
concerts – the first one took place in San Francisco, while the second was held
in New York City. June 2014: performances at the E3 Expo
in Los Angeles. Davis played with Austin Wintory, Peter Hollens and Malukah as
part of The Banner Saga's soundtrack-team, as well as part of the
Critical Hit at Video Games Live concert/event.
August 2014: exhibition with Critical Hit band at Nerdfest event in Orlando,
Florida. Critical Hit co-headlined the event along with Nobuo Uematsu's band
Earthbound Papas. September 2014: Davis' third and fourth
own concerts – the first one took place in Los Angeles, while the second was
held in Seattle. For these two concerts, Davis was accompanied on the piano by
Critical Hit's pianist Salome Scheidegger.
December 2014: Davis played with Austin Wintory, Peter Hollens, Malukah and a
choral group at The Game Awards show for the World-premiere of the upcoming video
game The Banner Saga 2. July 2015: Fashion Show gig at South
Beach, in Miami, Florida. July 2015: Participation at "VidCon"
conference, which was held in Anaheim, California; Davis will be guest/speaker
of the event "The Mystery of Being A Musician On YouTube", and will host the
"Open Mic" discussion along with YouTube musician Dodie Clark.
July 2015: "Music Guest of Honor" at the event "San Japan", in Texas. She will
perform along with the pianist Salome Scheidegger.
October 2015: Davis is hired by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's composer Marcin
Przybyłowicz for recording the violin-parts of his new main theme,
created for the expansion pack "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts Of Stone".
= Tours= Taylor Davis: Live in Concert
On May 28, 2015, Davis announced her first own concert tour. It will have 20
dates, and Davis will be touring around United States, accompanied on every
concert by pianist Salome Scheidegger. Tickets pre-order started on June 5,
2015. Full discography
= Gaming Fantasy= Skyrim Theme
Brothers Metal Gear Saga
Dearly Beloved Cid's Theme
Time's Scar To Zanarkand
Sadness and Sorrow Roses of May
Ezio's Family Frog's Theme
Zelda Medley Chrono Trigger Theme
Hikari Sadness and Sorrow
Grief and Sorrow = An Enchanted Christmas=
Carol of the Bells The Christmas Song
Silent night Greensleeves
Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! Silver Bells
O Holy Night Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
O Little Town of Bethlehem White Christmas
I Saw Three Ships Hark the Herald Angels Sing
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day Auld Lang Syne Scottish Medley
= Game On: 2 Player Mode – Taylor Davis & Lara de Wit=
Assassin's Creed 3 Theme Passion
Fairy Tail Theme Aeris' Theme
Guile's Theme Sons of Liberty
Roxas Chocobo Medley
To Galaxy An End, Once and for All
Pokémon Theme Eyes on Me
Song of Storms = Legendary Movie Music=
He's a Pirate Hedwig's Theme
Now We Are Free Lux Aeterna
My Heart Will Go On Duel of the Fates
Jurassic Park Theme James Bond Theme
Mission Impossible Theme For the Love of a Princess
Concerning Hobbits Raiders March
= Melodies of Hyrule: Songs from The Legend of Zelda=
Gerudo Valley Bolero of Fire
Song of Time and Song of Storms Dragon Roost Island
Kokiri Forest Great Fairy Fountain
Zelda's Lullaby Midna's Lament
Nocturne of Shadow Serenade of Water
Sheik's Theme Lon Lon Ranch
Dark World Theme Ballad of the Goddess
Tal Tal Heights and the Legend of Zelda Main Theme
Lost Woods = The Anime and Game Collection=
Dr. Wily's Castle Grief and Sorrow
The Last of Us Theme Attack on Titan Theme
Lilium Fairy Tail Slow Theme
Merry-Go-Round of Life From Past to Present
Angel Beats! Theme Cosmo Canyon
The Path of Wind Binks' Sake
Halo 2 Theme Fairy Tail Theme Remix
= Taylor Davis= Soulbound
Reflections Awakening
Mystic Forest Atonement
Nebulous Breakthrough
Hidden Falls Halo of Light
A New Journey Morning Star
Dawn of Hope = Singles=
Grief and Sorrow – released February 16, 2012
Zelda Medley – released March 7, 2012 Ezio's Family – released March 30, 2012
Arrival to Earth – released June 28, 2012
Wide Awake – released November 5, 2012 Promentory – released November 26, 2012
Journey Medley – released February 14, 2013
Game of Thrones Theme – released March 26, 2013
Elizabeth's Theme Medley – released April 23, 2013
Downton Abbey Theme – released May 2, 2013
The Avengers Theme – released August 27, 2013
Misty Mountains – released August 27, 2013
Never Meant to Belong – released August 27, 2013
Wake Me Up – released October 1, 2013 The Circle of Life – released March 13,
2014 Let it go – released March 27, 2014
Doctor Who Theme – released April 24, 2014
Thriller – released October 30, 2014 The Hobbit – The Last Goodbye – released
December 15, 2014 The Hanging Tree – released December 30,
2014 Swordland - released September 2, 2015
Colors of the Wind - released September 24, 2015
with Lara de Wit Fear Not This Night – Guild Wars 2 –
published September 29, 2012 Assassin's Creed 3 Theme – released
November 7, 2012 Halo 4: To Galaxy – released November 9,
2012 The Phantom of the Opera Medley –
released August 27, 2013 with Peter Hollens
The Rains of Castamere – released June 7, 2013
World of Warcraft Medley – released January 7, 2014
Into the West – released June 11, 2014 May it be – released June 24, 2014
with The Hound + The Fox Demons – released October 3, 2013
For the Dancing and the Dreaming – released September 9, 2014
with Home Free Silent Night – released November 13,
2014 The Devil Went Down To Georgia –
released September 18, 2015 This discography was compiled from
iTunes and Loudr. Videography
NOTE: Taylor Davis was also one of the many YouTube celebrities who
participated to the 'YouTube Rewind: Turn Down for 2014' video, which
collected over 95,000,000 views until October 2015.
Awards and nominations See also
List of female violinists Lara de Wit
Lindsey Stirling Peter Hollens
Adam Gubman Malukah
Austin Wintory References
External links Official website
Official Patreon page