Donna Missal is a songwriter who writes passionate, powerful tunes about love and desire. She's also a singer whose voice, coolly seductive or fiercely emotional, has proven to be the ideal vehicle for her material. Missal was born and raised on the East Coast; her father was a musician and songwriter who ran a recording studio in New York City in the '80s, while her grandmother was also a songwriter in the '40s. When Donna's parents began raising a family, they moved to suburban New Jersey, and her dad built a home studio from his leftover equipment. Missal developed an interest in singing when she was young, and she began joining in on family recording projects, including an annual Christmas album they passed along to friends and relatives. In her youth, Donna also got involved in community theater for kids, and it fueled her love of performing.nn In her teens, Missal made the jump from acting to singing in bands, and she next took up songwriting. Missal struck a deal with BMI and started collaborating with other tunesmiths, and in 2013 she wrote songs for the independent film How to Be a Man. In 2015, eager to kick-start her career, Missal recorded a slinky, seductive number called "Keep Lying," and while the track was created to persuade other performers to cut the tune, her powerful vocal caught the ears of music fans and the recording went viral. After "Keep Lying" racked up over 1.5 million plays on streaming services, Missal's career as a singer and a writer picked up; she dropped several more digital singles that were embraced by listeners, including "Sick" and "The Keeper," both released in 2016, and she landed bookings at several major music festivals, including Riot Fest and Bumbershoot. Missal's star continued to rise in 2017 with the release of two more singles, "Holiday" and "Transformer," as she worked on her first full-length album. ~ Mark Deming