Band Information
About Mai Bloomfield
Mai Bloomfield
vocals / guitar / cello
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Mai Bloomfield's musical path started with cello at age nine. From grade school up to college, Mai played in symphonies and chamber groups, traveling to Washington D.C. and Austria, receiving awards in various orchestral competitions. When she was 16 she got her first guitar and, fueled with a love of music and poetry, she began to write songs.
After graduating from UC Santa Cruz (during which time she also lived and worked in France and Switzerland) Mai returned home to LA where she met the other future members of Raining Jane who were attending UCLA. In 1999, a winning performance in the legendary UCLA Spring Sing Competition marked the debut of the band and the point at which Raining Jane became a fundamental part of Mai's life. The band became like family, and provided a special place to experiment, grow and have a blast creating and sharing music.
While Raining Jane was first exploring their sound playing and writing together, Mai also held jobs in graphic design. By day, she worked in design studios evolving as a graphic designer, and by night it was band practice in rented rehearsal studios. She balanced both arts until the music called for more and Raining Jane hit the road for their first national tour. In 2004, a leave of absence became a farewell to the 9-5 world and Mai (along the with the other janes who also left their jobs!) became a full-time musician. To this day, she's still passionate about Graphic Design and happily maintains a steady freelance clientele.
Raining Jane has been the primary focus and drive of Mai's professional music life, and it's also pushed her to evolve in other ways as a musician. As a cellist, she enjoys accompanying other artists and has been featured on records with Jason Mraz and Willy Porter. She has also appeared on programs such as "The Tonight Show" with Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson. Driven by her love of songwriting, and the often personal aspects of that process, Mai tried something new in 2010 and released a solo EP entitled "Eclipse". Songs from this disk garnered her recognition in the folk music scene, and she was named a finalist in the Telluride Troubadour and Kerrville New Folk songwriting contests in 2010.
After 11 years together, Mai is excited about the foundation Raining Jane has laid, and the ways in which they continue to grow as individuals and as a band.