Endorsed by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and winner of VH1’s nationally televised reality talent competition You Rock With Melissa Etheridge, Alicia Champion is also cofounder and producer of the San Diego Indie Music Fest (SDIMF), the nation’s first and only exclusively independent music festival.
A performer/composer/arranger/record producer, and avid workaholic since the age of 15, Alicia founded her independent record label, Champ Records, at the age of 17 under which she released her debut album, Stories of My Soul. She has since released two other records of her own (Cold Wars in 2002 and Annamosity in 2003), as well as producing and signing other artists to her label, including touring Rent star Kevin Wood and San Diego singer-songwriter Elena. As a performer, Alicia shared the stage and has worked with performers like Melissa Etheridge, Pink, Me’shell N’degeocello, the Indigo Girls, Jonatha Brooke, Michelle Shocked, and others.
In November 2005, onstage at San Diego Indie Music Fest II, Alicia collapsed into a grand mal seizure that doctors claimed was stress induced. After a deep re-evaluation of priorities, Alicia chose to take a hiatus from the stage while focusing her energies on her recording studio and production company, Durga Sound, which she co-owns with fellow SDIMF producer Danielle LoPresti.
Becoming a full-time record producer, Alicia produces and develops talent from all over the country, while also composing music for television, film, and commercials.
In June 2016, she released her first single in thirteen years (since "Annamosity" in 2003), after which she and LoPresti relocated to the Bay Area.
May 2023 saw the release of a new video and single, "Fan To Flame," her first release in around four years. "I was so honored to have been asked to write and produce the end title track for the original indie thriller Follow Her, starring Luke Cook," she says, "as well as serve as the film’s Music Supervisor." Among the soundtrack collaborators are Kendrick Dial, Mark Walker, and Stephen Snyder.