Barbara Adell (nee Spidell) found her affinity for the performing arts  as a child through writing and reading but did not fully commit to the arts until around 1992 or 1993, under the urgings of then mentor Richard vonMagnus, whose claim to fame, aside to forcing Bibi to MARRY the arts,  was painting Alcatraz for movie Escape from Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Truth, and varying sets such as American Gigolo, and Die Laughing, as well as television shows Mork &  Mindy, Happy Days, Laverne  & Shirley, Carol Burnett, & Perry Como. As an intern in his studios, and impressionable, she hung on every detail of every plan, and paid astute attention,  often dreaming about and verbalizing what she would do with a camera,  had she one, all the while rigourously penning poems and lyrics and watching him paint.  She did her best to ignore the men and women howling at her door constantly to come out and enjoy the festivities in a new warmer climate. As a young mother of two clever children and with the propensity to sing,  she tried  to soak up the art that was all around her in the incubator for the arts setting, located in Benicia, CA,. She tried to focus on her often jealous yet often traveling husband--so she went to college with one child on her back and another by the hand. They were the inspiration. 

 

In the 90's her husband dragged them, hardly kicking and screaming, from the cold midwest, and she found herself in a small but powerful artistic community. She was used as a portrait and figure model by vonMagnus, and then was given the opportunity to nude model for the great Manuel Neri but chickened out and stuck to singing at church and parenting, though incredibly flattered, she remains close to those friends today. They have hung some of her visual art, a piece called 'The Barnacle Bike' at their  home, a former church, and when Manuel asked her what it was considered in style to be, she explained 'Environmental Art'  in which the materials  that were used in the art or as the art were influenced by the very environment from which they came.  The art was a gift to dear sweet friend Raoul Neri, Manuel's son, and his lovely wife Monica.

 

Meanwhile singing in the church choir at St. Dominic's in Benicia, CA under Music Director and Vocal Coach Annabelle Cruz, with her two small children in tow, she was trained by the very best; Judy Davis had taught Annabelle. Bibi then tried her hand at doing the work of a music agent, in awe of Annabelle's command of music and von Magnus' command of art she started to peddle music and visual art. Around that time she would go study Jazz at The Union Hotel, in Benicia Ca, by Kitty Margolis and Brenda Boykin and Miss Honey from Pure Honey, and attended college to get an education in music and continue to write for the college newspaper. 

 

Attending community college for vocal music and journalism,  and soon estranged from her only husband,  she joined Bay Area band The Real Imposters led by Ken Leach, a band inspired by a movie about Soul Music, and also joined art punk band Black Barbie fronted by vonMagnus , though as soon as she joined the group lead by pianist Virginia Belloni ,  the name was changed to Blind Virginia & The Dog. Never  then realizing then that one day she would be a member of the authentic soul group Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds.  

 

She joined Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds in 2009, when nominated for a prestigious award, she met Harvey Scales through a music colleague, the dearly departed Mark Shurilla, of Mark Shurilla and The Greatest Hits band. Harvey brought her in because of her track record for Producing shows at  Burning Man in NV, and Harleyfest 100th year Anniversary, AND The World's Largest Music Festivel, Summerfest, located in Milwaukee, WI, where she was a stagemananger and entertainment buyer on an idependent level beginning in 2002, under colleague/friend and Associate Entertainment Director, Vic Thomas. She gave a brief vocal audition, and hence became a great musical union. It was Harvey Scales who then introduced her to Ricardo Scales, pianist Maestro and CEO of label DGRP Bay Sound Records Group.

 

But First, Both Scales and Adell, having lived in the Bay Area AND Milwaukee, it resulted that they clicked like peas and carrots. Together they opened for mega group George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelics, and Cameo. In 2013 They performed at Sweetwater in Mill Valley CA, a show that was attened by reknown figures, Robb Lawrence of Les Paul & company, and Jerry Harrison of The Talking Heads. Both a direct link to their shared WI roots. 

 

In the late 90's she returned to her midwestern roots, in Milwaukee WI, and tooled around with bands like The Axxxelerators, lead by high school sweetheart Brian Wurch, and Bean Machine lead by guitar virtuoso Beanz Grinwald. Raised on Rock, often singing Jazz, and hanging onto her choral leanings, her range continued to grow.  While at The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music she studied Jazz voice with Adekola Adedapo. Quite fond of harmonies, she developed an offspring to Mud River Lee & The Bluegrass Orchestra called  The Bluegrass Belles, and spent the next several years learning and acquiring new forms of music to her repetoire, and began to crossover to Gospel, and finally joined The MPS Alumni Homeless Community Gospel Choir. That culminated in singing and shooting a video of the group singing at The United Nations. Lastly, starting in music as strictly Acapella and found the point where musical theatre crosses jazz and bluegrass crosses gospel into country into rock into soul into, you get the picture…we can we say she is both well rounded and still badly bent for her as a mass comm junkie of some merit. Is it Patti Smith or is it Alan Lomax?

 

" I don't know exactly how much audio or video I have shot, but one day we will know, or we won't. That is the trouble with building a legacy of memories, namely music or political,  for the future generations to look at is much to hope for in a lifetime. I often ask myself as to what is my drive . Whatever it is, of course I feel it is important, because by my very peers, whom I learned most of my information andI find most fascinating, seem to be doing some important work in their lifetime, whether they are like me documenting or creating and managing and everything that goes into vein or accordance with any doctorate level of anything, one must be keen. And no I won't factcheck them--unless I have to--I screen my associates now lol."

 

"Video being best. I know it is the message and the power of video that supercedes audio and text in that a picture is worth more in value, and we can write all we want to the point we must draw a picture. I realize that I am a great singer, but hat if I know that this video story is more important to this world that this  vocal recording, then it will take precedence. I am not an asshole."

 

Always sticking to multi-medium and conceptual art, and voice, percussion and writing, still she worked as a model in clothing with the late Jilliana Medici from Milan, and Lori Linn Talent Agency in commercials, and has been in films ,  movies , theatre, and parades alike. She has collected footage, as a hobbyist videoographer but managed to win prestigious PEG award for her journalistic piece called The Sexy Six, in her efforts to support the woman's movement, which she feels a lack of adherence to the attention of it has governed the midwest in it's often negative attitude towards women in the career arts, and ascertains that without question in many ways many women have had to struggle and navigate unecessarily difficult plights due to stereotypes about women. You will pick up a range of emotions in his thoughtful woman's music and interpretations. Look for her CD henceforth....