PHOTO COURTESY OF RACHEL GRAY OF RACHEL COURTESY PHOTO

BY MELONIE MAGRUDER

Making any things can be the glue that binds a great rela- tionship, but for this couple, the muse of music stepped in. Sophie Stern and David Greenbaum are Mpartners in music and in life. Beautiful Music “It’s funny,” Stern said. “We grew up living 20 minutes away from each other, but we didn’t meet till we got to music school in Boston.” (The two attended Berklee College of Music, which has produced some of the preeminent performers and composers in American musical history.) Together “I always had a huge crush on him, but he was this big drum- mer in a band,” Stern said. “We dated a little, then he moved to Sophie Stern and Texas and started engineering for [musician and songwriter] husband David Greenbaum Linda Perry. I thought that was that. found the right note. “But one night I had a dream that I wrote a song for him,” Stern continued. “I woke up and there was an email from him, saying that he had had a dream that we wrote a song together. It turned out to be the same song.”

56 | MALIBU TIMES MAGAZINE | #MALIBUTIMESMAG tern, daughter of actor Daniel Stern (“Home Alone”) and his Swife Laure (co-founder of the Malibu Boys & Girls Club), grew up in Malibu with melodies running through her head and an independent approach to writing. Greenbaum, aka David Elevator, was into jamming with bands. “When I came back to California to do studio work,” Greenbaum said, referring to moving back to the LA area after his time in Texas, “I found Sophie again. We always had this weird connection.” They dated for three years, then broke up for a six-month period. During that time, Stern worked independently and gathered together pop tunes she had written and hit the rounds. She ended up being signed to work with mega producers, includ- ing Cameron Strang, a big time executive with Warner Music Group. She penned songs for Britney Spears, Conor Maynard and longtime friend Shwayze. Greenbaum started composing for television and ended up engineering for Beck’s 2014 album of the year, “Morning Phase,” earning himself three Grammys. (Greenbaum connected with Beck because they lived a few streets away from each other on Point Dume.) This year, Beck will be releasing another album that Greenbaum is finishing up with him. When Stern and Greenbaum reconnected, they joked about someday getting married in a crazy ceremony with Elvis imper- sonators. However, they ended up with a “pretty traditional wedding at Rosenthal Vineyard in Malibu,” Stern said.

oday, their personal relationship is “completely inter- Ttwined” with their business relationship. “Song writing is an incredible journey,” Stern said. “We started writing together seriously.” They characterize their music as “nerdy, quirky pop” and Stern performs their collaborations as Sophie and the Bom Boms. They were signed to Columbia Records for one year. “But,” Stern said, “for an independent artist, it’s hard to be signed to a label. There are ups and downs.” Stern and Greenbaum “got the opportunity” to retain the rights to their music. (“I’m a real good negotiator,” Stern said.) and they decided to tour—just the two of them—from Iowa to New York City and even London, at venues booked by Stern. When they work together, they have their own structure. “I came from a band background, so I’m about jamming,” Greenbaum said. “But with Sophie, it’s just, ‘Give me a beat then leave me alone.’ Even though we have great chemistry, we work separately. But Sophie has a great sensibility. She refuses to write junk. There has to be a message behind it.” At the moment, they are working to release an album at the end of this year. It’s ambitious. Stern said the plan is to release one new song a month. “We want to see what unfolds over the year,” Stern noted. The couple will also perform locally (dates can be found at sophieandthebomboms.com, @sophieandthebbs), and they are beginning to focus on composing for commercials and films. Stern said they want to tour again as a duo. “David is a one- man band on stage with guitar, keyboards and a computer,” she said. “It’s just the two of us.” n

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