Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, Janis honed her quick thinking and ensemble work skills while performing with an improvisational theatre troupe during her college years. She attributes her ability to bring forth multiple ideas in songwriting, both lyrically and melodically, to her start with them. 

A production deal for her own rock band brought her to Los Angeles, but the valuable writing connections she soon made were what kept her here and gave her the foundation for a full spectrum of projects. Annette Tucker’s ASCAP songwriters workshop helped her refine the tools of the trade, and led her to select writing circles. One of the connections from these circles, Alan O’Day, became a major collaborator. With him, she wrote featured songs for the 5-time Emmy award-winning show Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, turning out over 100 songs during the eight-year broadcast. With the success of Henson’s show, they were offered an opportunity to pioneer National Geographic Television’s youth programming. Starting with Really Wild Animals, starring Dudley Moore, they performed and produced over 50 songs for t.v. and video, working together and as solo writers.

Other writing highlights include Disney’s t.v. theme “The Emperor’s New School” (with Danny Jacob), a song for “Kim Possible,” and a song for “Sesame Street” (with O’Day). She also wrote the lyric and melody to Stanley Clarke’s track for Universal’s feature film, “Undercover Brother.”

Janis has pulled off two simultaneous full-time careers. “Co-writing’s easier now, but before laptops and file sharing, I had monstrous phone bills … and very patient co-writers!”  Her 25-plus year career as a singer has found her writing while touring the world as a singer with artists including The Moody Blues, Engelbert, The Righteous Brothers, the late Charlie Rich, and a 19-year stretch with Michael Bolton (1991-2010).   

You can hear her on several of Bolton’s cuts, and she’s proud to have been included in the multi-voiced choir for Neil Young’s 2008 release, “Living With War” and Ringo Starr’s 2010 release “Y Not.” She has also sung on national commercials, including Priceline.com, Taco Bell, Ross, and 7up. Her parody material for Premier Radio was distributed through national syndication as well.

When she’s at home in Woodland Hills with husband Scott Monahan, also a writer/producer/singer and now videographer,
she’s inspired by new trends in writing, and hopes her best is yet to come.

“I’ve been given opportunities which led me in directions I hadn’t planned on, and most of these have led to great adventures, lifelong friends, and sometimes new careers. Just remember: if you open a box, there might be a brand new pair of shoes in there…. so try them on and start walking!”

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