Nomi Abadi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Genres | |
| Website | nomiabadi |
Nomi Abadi is an American born Syrian-Egyptian Jewish pianist, vocalist, actor and activist. [1] In November 2019, she played piano on the Grammy Award nominated album Sekou Andrews & The String Theory nominated in 2020 in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.
A piano prodigy born of four generations of piano teachers, Abadi's musical career began with a concert with the Orange County Chamber Orchestra as their youngest soloist ever at age 5, playing a Mozart concerto. [2] Growing up in Orange County, California, Abadi was homeschooled by her mother and taught piano by her father, the late classical and ragtime pianist Marden Abadi. At age 8, she began professional training in classical piano at the Mannes School of Music after auditioning at Juilliard. She graduated early from the Orange County School of the Arts at age 16 and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Abadi has composed original music for concerts and more than 20 video games and films, including Sebastian (2023), starring Darius McCrary, and Gothic Springs (2019), starring Peyton List. [3]
Her video game work includes original music, sound design and voicing three characters in The Clairvoyant AR, and music for Star Twin Locator, both produced by Weird Sisters. [4] [5] The Clairvoyant AR was featured at the San Diego Game Jam and invited via the Playcrafting organization to participate in the Bose Game Jam at the Bose AR Platform at PAX West in 2019. [6]
Abadi has composed and performed her own solo projects since 2012. She received praise from buzzbands.la for her 2016 release "Omega", who called the song, "a lush, cascading pop track built around an acrobatic piano line". [7]
Her vocals are featured on Satanic Planet's 2021 self-titled LP release on the track "Devil in Me", which she co-wrote, singing poetry by Satanic Temple founder Lucien Greaves. [8] Following the success of Sekou Andrews and the String Theory (2019), [9] [10] Abadi joined String Theory on their album The Los Angeles Suite (2020), featuring artists Jens Kuross, SORNE, Shana Halligan, Vōx and Addie Hamilton.
In 2017, Abadi invented the double keytar. The NORY Double Synth was approved for a US Patent in 2019. [11] Nomi premiered her Quartet for NORY® in E Minor at Video Game Music Con Puerto Rico in 2023.
In 2020, Abadi founded the Female Composer Safety League (FCSL), a public charity under IRC code 501(c)(3), which states that its mission is to provide networking, resources, community, support and allyship to up-and-coming women composers. [12] According to a 2023 article in The Guardian , FCSL was launched after Nomi held two gender safety panels at GameSoundCon and has attracted hundreds of members. The Guardian stated that "Nomi vowed to expose the toxic, abusive work conditions that run rampant behind the closed doors of soundtrack composing studios" as "one of Hollywood's last dirty secrets". [13] Ahead of the MusiCares gala preceding the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, Nomi spoke at a press conference in Downtown Los Angeles, stating that the time for sexual predators in music is "over." [14] [15] [16]
In 2022, Abadi led a coalition against the sexual abuse of students by faculty members of the Orange County School of the Arts, [17] gaining the support of local residents, alumni and parents, and organizations, including the chairwoman and dozens of members of the Orange County Democratic Party. [18] After three appearances by the coalition at the Orange County Board of Education public board meetings, [19] the OCBE agreed to issue an investigation into OCSA. [20] The Orange County Register has reported on at least three lawsuits involving OCSA faculty, including Ralph Opacic, OCSA's founder.
In 2023, Rolling Stone reported that Abadi had accused composer Danny Elfman of sexually harassing her between 2015 and 2017. According to the magazine's reporting, Abadi and Elfman signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2018, with Elfman agreeing to pay Abadi $830,000 if she did not publicize her allegations against him. After Rolling Stone publicly revealed the existence of this agreement, Elfman denied the allegations, and said that he only agreed to the settlement because he feared that his "50-year career may be destroyed in one news cycle" if the claims had been published. In accordance with Abadi's wishes, part of the settlement helped establish her nonprofit foundation, the Female Composer Safety League. Elfman had defaulted on payments to the League, causing Abadi to file a breach of contract suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. [21] [22]
A second accuser filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Elfman on October 19, 2023. [23] However, the case was dismissed on September 4, 2024. [24]
On July 10, 2024, Abadi sued Elfman for defamation. [25] The lawsuit, published by Variety , alleges that "Defendant Danny Elfman peddled appalling lies for publication to Rolling Stone about Nomi, who had previously, truthfully relayed facts corroborating his penchant to sexually abuse women... Why? As part of a harebrained ‘zero sum' scheme by Elfman to prop up his checkered reputation by destroying Nomi's credibility." [26] [27] [28] [29]
Daniel Robert Elfman is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Sean Love Combs, also known by his stage name Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer and record executive. He is credited with the discovery and cultivation of artists such as the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Usher. Combs has won three Grammy Awards from 13 nominations, two MTV Video Music Awards, a MTV VMA Global Icon Award in 2023, and a Guinness World Record for "Most Successful Rap Producer" in 1997.
Russell Wendell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has promoted veganism and a yoga lifestyle, and published books on lifestyle, health, and entrepreneurship. Simmons' net worth was estimated at $340 million in 2011.
Daniel Peter Masterson is an American former actor and convicted rapist. He portrayed Steven Hyde in That '70s Show (1998–2006), Milo Foster in Men at Work (2012–2014), and Jameson "Rooster" Bennett in The Ranch (2016–2018). In May 2023, Masterson was convicted of raping two women in 2003. A third count of rape resulted in a hung jury. In September 2023, he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. Masterson is a Scientologist, as were his victims at the time of the assaults. The Church of Scientology's attempts to silence the victims, and its subsequent interference, resulted in a 20-year delay in bringing the crimes to justice.
Nickolas Gene Carter is an American singer and a member of the vocal group Backstreet Boys. As of 2015, Carter has released three solo albums, Now or Never, I'm Taking Off and All American, during breaks between Backstreet Boys schedules, and a collaboration with Jordan Knight titled Nick & Knight. He has made occasional television appearances and starred in his own reality shows, House of Carters and I (Heart) Nick Carter.
Orange County School of the Arts, is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, culinary arts and more. The educational program prepares students for higher education institutions or employment in the professional arts industry. In 2010 the school's academic and arts programs were ranked with silver medal status in the U.S. News & World Report "Best High Schools" list. In 2012 the school changed its name from Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA) to its current name, Orange County School of the Arts.
The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is a school district in Orange County, California, United States, that serves most of the city of Santa Ana and small portions of the cities of Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Although its geographic size is only 24 square miles (62 km2), it is the 12th largest school district in the state of California with approximately 44,102 students. The school district employs approximately 4,500 staff, and its operating budget is $483.1 million.
Nigel Lythgoe OBE is an English television and film director and producer, television dance competition judge, former dancer in the Young Generation and choreographer.
Elizabeth Jean Carroll is an American journalist, author, and advice columnist. Her "Ask E. Jean" column appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 through 2019, becoming one of the longest-running advice columns in American publishing. In her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, Carroll accused CBS CEO Les Moonves and Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s. Both Moonves and Trump denied the allegations.
Roberta Ann Kaplan, also known as Robbie Kaplan, is an American lawyer focusing on commercial litigation and public interest matters. Kaplan successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of LGBT rights activist Edith Windsor, in United States v. Windsor, a landmark decision that invalidated a section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages. She was a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before starting her own firm in 2017. In 2018, she co-founded the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund.
In late 2014, multiple allegations emerged that Bill Cosby, an American media personality, had sexually assaulted dozens of women throughout his career. Cosby was well known in the United States for his eccentric image, and gained a reputation as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show (1984–1992). He received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career, many of which have since been revoked. There had been previous allegations against Cosby, but they were dismissed and accusers were ignored or disbelieved.
Diana Louisa Napolis, also known by her online pseudonym Karen Curio Jones or more often simply Curio, is an American former social worker. Between the late 1990s and 2000, Napolis posted a series of pseudonymous accusations alleging that individuals skeptical of the satanic ritual abuse moral panic were involved in a conspiracy to cover up the sexual abuse and murder of children. The pseudonymous poster's real life identity was confirmed as Napolis in 2000.
Kesha v. Dr. Luke refers to a series of lawsuits and countersuits between the singer Kesha Rose Sebert (Kesha) and the music producer Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald. Sebert filed a civil suit against Gottwald in October 2014 for infliction of emotional distress, sex-based hate crimes and employment discrimination. Gottwald filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court in which he sued Sebert and her mother, Rosemary Patricia "Pebe" Sebert, for defamation and breach of contract.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has a history of insulting and belittling women when speaking to the media and on social media. He has made lewd comments, disparaged women's physical appearances, and referred to them using derogatory epithets. Since the 1970s, at least 26 women have publicly accused Trump of rape, kissing, and groping without consent; looking under women's skirts; and walking in on naked teenage pageant contestants. Trump has denied all of the allegations.
In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women in the film industry eventually accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein himself denied "any non-consensual sex". Shortly after, he was dismissed from The Weinstein Company (TWC), expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.
#MeToo is a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke. The hashtag #MeToo was used starting in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem. "Me Too" is meant to empower those who have been sexually assaulted through empathy, solidarity and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating how many have experienced sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.
The Weinstein effect is a phenomenon in which sexual harassment allegations of powerful figures get disclosed.
Douglas Holden Wigdor is a founding partner of the law firm Wigdor LLP, and works as a litigator in New York City, specializing in anti-discrimination law. Wigdor is best known for representing seven victims of alleged sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein, the hotel maid in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, over twenty employees at Fox News in sexual harassment and discrimination cases, and NFL coaches Brian Flores, Steve Wilks, and Ray Horton in a 2022 class action lawsuit against the National Football League alleging racist and discriminatory practices against Black coaches.
Phoenix Rising is an American documentary miniseries directed and produced by Amy J. Berg. It follows Evan Rachel Wood as she tells her story of domestic violence and her campaign for justice. It aired on March 15–16, 2022, on HBO.
The Adult Survivors Act (ASA) is New York State legislation enacted in May 2022 which amends state law to allow alleged victims of sexual offenses for which the statute of limitations has lapsed to file civil suits for a one-year period, from November 24, 2022, to November 24, 2023. The act thus expands the ability of plaintiffs to sue for sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact in the workplace.