Patrice Pike

Patrice Pike (born August 4, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She's been a professional musician and songwriter since she was sixteen. Billboard magazine proclaimed her "one of the finest up and coming contemporary rock singers in America".

Early life

Patrice grew up in Dallas, Texas, where her stepfather was a musician playing in local clubs. Her introduction to music was both ukulele and violin which she received as a child. When she was 15, she began attending the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (aka the "Arts Magnet"). Former attendees of the school include Edie Brickell, Norah Jones and Zac Baird; among Patrice's classmates was Roy Hargrove.

After graduating from Booker T. Washington, Pike attended the University of North Texas. She left the university and started the band Little Sister in 1991 with band co-founder Wayne Sutton.

Little Sister

Pike soon met her future guitarist and musical partner Wayne Sutton at a street festival in Dallas. After a brief stint in Austin, Sutton returned to Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, where the two formed a band and began writing and rehearsing. Originally called Little Sister, the band began playing in Dallas on stages such as Club Dada, but soon relocated to the thriving musical scene of Austin. They quickly moved from playing the Black Cat as an opening band for local favorites Soul Hat into a headlining role of their own, and remained popular in Austin for many years. The band was invited to tour on the H.O.R.D.E. tour with Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews Band, and Allman Brothers Band and recorded their first major label record, Free Love And Nickel Beer, on EMI/SBK records just prior to the tour.