Essra Mohawk

Pop / folk / jazz singer, songwriter, and musician Essra Mohawk – born Sandra Hurvitz on April 23, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – was best known for her work on iconic early 1970s TV series Schoolhouse Rock and for her songs recorded by artist such as Cyndie Lauper and Tina Turner. Sandy Hurvitz’s career began with the release of the single “The Boy with the Way,” which was released under the name Jamie Carter in 1964. Under the mentorship of producer and songwriter Shadow Morton, she began writing songs for other artists including Vanilla Fudge and the Shangri-Las. Sandy Hurvitz briefly became involved with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention and was signed to his Bizarre Records label. Her debut album, Sandy’s Album is Here At Last, was issued at the end of 1968. She was scheduled to play at the legendary Woodstock Festival in August 1969 but arrived too late and was not able to perform. She then signed to Reprise Records and released the album Primordial Lovers (1970), which was her first album as Essra Mohawk. Rolling Stone Magazine later referred to Primordial Lovers as ‘one of the best 25 albums ever made.’ Outside of her own recordings, she lent her voice to several songs that were played on the educational TV series Schoolhouse Rock during the mid-1970s including “Interjections” (1974) and “Sufferin’ ‘til Suffrage” (1976). Signing to Asylum Records, she released her poorly received self-titled album in 1974, which was followed by 1976’s Essra on the Private Stock label. While she would only release albums sporadically over the next few years – including E-Turn (1985), Raindance (1995), Essie Mae Hawk Meets the Killer Groove Band (1999), You’re Not Alone (2003), and The One and Only (2019) – but never achieved the critical success of her early recordings. Commercially, she was more successful as a songwriter, penning songs for Cyndie Lauper (1986’s “Change of Heart”) and Tina Turner (1989’s “Stronger Than the Wind”). Essra Mohawk died on December 11, 2023, at the age of 75.

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