By the age of 14 she was recording her own songs and by 16 she could engineer her own sessions.

One might wonder how someone who cites Dr.Dre, Bjork and Chopin as their musical influences sounds. Taking a listen to hot, new recording artist Pearl Future might be a good place to start figuring it out. Lyrics wrapped in sugar and sass, beats and bass lines that stick in your head on an infinite loop and the depth to back it all up are what separate her from the pack.

A Las Vegas, Nevada native, Pearl Future (born Pearl Whalen) cut her teeth in the music industry at an early age. While other girls were in school suffering teenage angst, trying to get a date with the football captain and studying for their calculus test she played hooky, opting to spend her days hanging out with musicians in the studio and honing her craft. “They knew I should have been in school but I guess [they] figured it was better that I was trying to learn to record music than be out getting into trouble somewhere!”

By the age of 14 she was recording her own songs and by 16 she could engineer her own sessions. “I became a sound engineer after I started working in recording studios. There wasn’t any other way for me to be in the studio all day. I wanted to live and breathe music.” As an award-winning songwriter Pearl does just that. “I will listen to a beat or music track and feel out what it is saying. Sometimes there are big, complex concepts and stories behind just one simple line of lyric. There are definitely characters in all of the songs. Eventually the song comes alive and has a personality, a mind of its own. They are people.”

A virtual anomaly, Pearl Future is a grounded dreamer who loves the color ultraviolet, is obsessed with glamour, champagne and fashion, “I have a fascination with couture. I wish I could wear it everyday without people freaking out. I wish I lived in a nice little bubble where I could do this and be insulated from the backlash” but at the same time is a strict vegetarian that usually prefers time in the studio to time in the VIP.

It is this complexity and frivolity that has kept her afloat in murky industry waters and seen her through life’s torrents. Losing her father (a single parent) to an illness at the age of 17, Pearl left school early in order to support herself financially. As an expression of the new path that lay ahead and a change in her life philosophy, Pearl added “Future” to her moniker. “It’s all about moving forward. Reminiscing makes you stagnant… I believe it’s best to always stay in the now, because what you do now creates your future.”

This belief along with her resilience and tenacity, have served her well in mentoring underprivileged youth, building schools and supporting environmental charities and will undoubtedly play a key role in her success as a recording artist. “Being an artist is a real commitment that has nothing to do with commercial success in your chosen artistic field. I let that sink in. There was no turning back.” Pearl Future makes it clear that there is no Plan B. With a breakthrough album set to release on Cream Records in Fall 2009 and an undeniable buzz among the who’s who of the industry, chances are there won’t be much need for one.