Lily Vakili

Lily Vakili is, at her core, a storyteller.
A lifelong observer, chronicler, and creative force, she has spent decades gathering fragments
of the world – memories, landscapes, voices, losses, joys – and transforming them into urgent,
electric songs.
Vakili’s journey to music has been anything but linear – shaped by what she calls “a life lived.”
Born in Honduras to a family of six, she was raised across Honduras, Florida, Thailand, Puerto
Rico, and Iowa – absorbing pieces of each place, each culture, along the way. This upbringing
shaped her voice, her worldview, and her lifelong search for connection.
Before she found her footing in music, Vakili built a life as a dancer, an actor, a lawyer, and a
mother – gathering stories, learning to listen, and bearing witness to the complicated, often
contradictory nature of being human. She was drawn to songwriting not by ambition or
industry, but by a deep, undeniable need to give voice to the world around her and the one
within. Over time, music became her creative home: A space where rawness and risk are not
just welcome, but essential.
The past decade has seen her channel that force through five studio albums – released both as
a solo artist and with Vakili Band – each one experimenting with the wide, untamed possibilities
of rock. Her voice and music are “compelling the way the first Patti Smith music gripped a
listener, the Swans’ Jarboe enthralled or even Nico startled.” – Americana Highways
“I love the serendipitous nature of art,” Vakili says. “It’s disruptive, it’s intentional, it’s an
exertion of will.”