Gretchen started her career singing professionally in New York City.  After 5 years of hard work in NYC she decided to become a jazz singer and picked San Francisco as her new home.  The acid-jazz scene was in full swing when she moved there and she jumped right in, sitting-in at The Elbo Room with The Broun Fellinis at the height of their popularity. 

Gretchen started the all original band Non-Prophets with the guitarist Paris. The duo worked in the studio for over a year creating original material. Band in tact, and two sets of original music they took to the stage, only to have the drummer and guitarist find that they had "irreconciable difference" at the second gig... end of the Non-Prophets, who oddly, never pulled in any money! Be careful what you name your band!

After the Non-Prophets Gretchen decided to create a "lead-bass band" highlighting her favorite instrument. She was lucky enough to find the fantastic bass player, Scott Arnold and Sideways was formed. Sideways played in the Bay Area for 4 years with a good amount of success for an original band.  They had many of the extremely talented jazz players in the area sit-in with them over the years.  The songs were quirky and fun, and you can hear them online at http://cdbaby.com/cd/sideways

After that band ended she sang as a back-up singer with an original funk band named Skull Funk Tribe.  When that band dissolved she hit a road block in her career and was off stage for two years, the longest time since her career had begun 16 years earlier.  Fed up with the city, and the opportunities available she moved to the Denver area in search of... well mostly in search of a straight single man! 

About a year after moving here she was contacted by Jasco, an extremely talented guitarist who had just deserted his California dreams as well and was moving from L.A. to the Denver area.  They formed The Shamans, a band playing their own unique versions of classic blues, funk, jazz & soul tunes.  They played together for over 2.5 years in the Denver area.  They also ran a jam night in Denver for 2 years, this helped Gretchen to grow extensively as a musician.

You can find out more about The Shamans, see pictures and listen to some of their music
here... http://www.theshamans.net 
here...  http://www.myspace.com/theshamans
and about Gretchen here... http://www.myspace.com/gthroop

Gretchen has been trained vocally… in New York City, by the operatic teacher, Mike Mitchell, then (and still on-going since 1987!) Georgia Louis (see video below), a world-famous blues/gospel singer and teacher, and most recently, in San Francisco with Faith Winthrop, an adept jazz singer/teacher.

Currently Gretchen is playing in "The Gretchen Troop Band" with Jodie Woodward on bass guitar and Randall Dubis on guitar. This band is a jazz~soul~blues band with lot's of groove. They are booked at Vines once a month, starting in January 2008. She is also actively looking for the right players to make a funk band that will tear the roof off of the Denver music scene.

Nurtured by this amazing community of musicians in the Denver area she has turned back to her foundational love of writing original music.  She is currently writing and recording some great new original material.  Make sure to check out this well-honed singer/musician/songwriter as she is hitting her musical stride.