Shola Adisa-Farrar

Last updated

Shola Adisa-Farrar
Birth nameShola Adisa-Farrar [1]
Born Oakland, California, United States
Origin Jamaica
Genres Jazz, reggae, soul
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, actress
Instrument(s)Vocals
Years active2011–present
LabelsHot Casa Records [2]
Website www.sholaadisafarrar.com

Shola Adisa-Farrar (born January 23) is an American singer and actress of Jamaican descent, currently residing in Paris, France. Adisa-Farrar has performed internationally, and she works as a US Music Ambassador with the US Embassy, Africa Regional Services Department in Paris. [3] [4]

Contents

Early life

Shola Adisa-Farrar was born in Oakland, California. She is the daughter of Jamaican professor and writer, Opal Palmer Adisa. Adisa-Farrar began singing and acting at the age of eight when she attended The American Youth Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. In high school, she was a member of the Oakland Youth Chorus. Adisa-Farrar attended Fordham University in New York City, where she majored in music and earned her degree in 2006. [5]

Career

In 2006, Shola Adisa-Farrar appeared in seven out of ten episodes of BET's Ultimate Hustler reality TV show featuring Damon Dash. [6]

Adisa-Farrar moved to Paris at the beginning of 2011 and there she began her musical career. After singing at Le Reservoir in Paris on Sundays for the Jazz brunch, she was approached by Hot Casa Record's co-founder Julien Lebrun to create an album. [7] Lebrun connected her to French pianist Florian Pellissier, and the two spent the next two years composing and creating what would be Shola's debut album, Lost Myself. [8] The album reached the number-one position on iTunes France jazz album chart in the first week after release. [9]

The hit song from the album "Evolution" has played on airwaves in France, US and the United Kingdom and appears on Episode 6 of Spike Lee's Netflix Series She's Gotta Have It .

Discography

Albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celine Dion</span> Canadian singer (born 1968)

Céline Marie Claudette Dion is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Queen of Power Ballads", she is noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals. Her music has incorporated genres such as pop, rock, R&B, gospel, and classical music. Her recordings have been mainly in English and French, although she has also sung in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, and Chinese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Mama Thornton</span> American blues singer (1926–1984)

Willie Mae Thornton, better known as Big Mama Thornton because of her height and weight, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", in 1952, which was written for her and became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953. According to Maureen Mahon, a music professor at New York University, "the song is seen as an important beginning of rock-and-roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument". Thornton's other recordings include the original version of "Ball and Chain", which she wrote.

Helen Merrill is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording Helen Merrill, was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation of bebop jazz musicians. After an active 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent time recording and touring in Europe and Japan, falling into obscurity in the United States. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was recorded by EmArcy, JVC and Verve, and her performances in America revived her profile. Known for her emotional, sensual vocal performances, she continues to perform today, her career now in its sixth decade of concerts and recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carole Fredericks</span> American singer

Carole Denise Fredericks was an American singer best known for her work in French music. She was the younger sister of Taj Mahal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stacey Kent</span> Musical artist

Stacey Kent is an American jazz singer from South Orange, New Jersey.

Shola Ama is a British singer from London, who scored her biggest hits with "You Might Need Somebody" (1997), a cover of Randy Crawford's 1981 hit, "You're the One I Love" and "Still Believe" (1999) which was one of the first productions by the Norwegian producing team Stargate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liane Carroll</span> English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist

Liane Carroll is an English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dee Dee Bridgewater</span> American jazz singer (born 1950)

Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Opal Palmer Adisa is a Jamaican and American poet, novelist, performance artist and educator. Anthologized in more than 400 publications, she has been a regular performer of her work internationally. Professor Emeritus at California College of the Arts, Adisa is also the current Director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica, where she currently resides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ledisi</span> American singer/songwriter, author and actress (born 1972)

Ledisi Anibade Young, better known simply as Ledisi, is an American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter, music producer, author and actress. Her name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole Mitchell (musician)</span> American jazz flautist and composer (born 1967)

Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and composer who teaches jazz at the University of Virginia. She is a former chairwoman of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kreesha Turner</span> Musical artist

Kreesha Turner is a Canadian recording artist and songwriter, born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Raised in both Canada and Jamaica, she began her musical career after a successful audition with Virgin Records. She signed a record deal with the Capitol Music Group, under which the Virgin imprint operates. Concurrently, EMI Music Canada signed her to more effectively tap into the Canadian market.

Ethel Azama was an American jazz and popular singer and recording artist. She sang regularly in nightclubs and other concert venues between the mid-1950s and 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Tillery</span> American singer and percussionist

Linda "Tui" Tillery is an American singer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and music arranger. She began her professional singing career at age 19 with the Bay Area rock band The Loading Zone. She is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her second solo album titled Linda Tillery released on Olivia Records in 1977. In addition to performing, she was the producer on three of Olivia's first eight albums. Within the women's music genre, she has collaborated with June Millington, Deidre McCalla, Barbara Higbie, Holly Near, Margie Adam, and others. Tillery was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Musical Album for Children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunshine Becker</span> American singer

Sunshine Becker is an American singer who performed backing vocals for the band Furthur. Despite her maiden name, Garcia, she is not related to Jerry Garcia, an incorrect assumption made by some because of her involvement with Furthur, a post-Garcia incarnation of the Grateful Dead. Similarly, despite her first name, Sunshine, she is not to be confused with Sunshine Kesey, daughter of Ken Kesey and Carolyn Adams, Jerry Garcia's second wife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Bianca</span> Musical artist

Lady Bianca is an American electric blues singer, songwriter and arranger. Lady Bianca has worked as a session singer, depicted Billie Holiday on stage, and since 1995 released six solo albums, three of which were nominated for a Grammy Award.

Zara McFarlane is a British jazz/soul singer and songwriter, based in East London, England. In October 2014, McFarlane was awarded the title of "Best Jazz Act" at the MOBO Awards. She has had four albums released by Brownswood Recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cécile McLorin Salvant</span> American jazz vocalist

Cécile McLorin Salvant is an American jazz vocalist. She was the winner of the first prize in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010, releasing her first album, Cécile, shortly thereafter. Her second album, WomanChild, was released in 2013 on Mack Avenue Records, receiving a 2014 Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Salvant won four categories in the 2014 DownBeat Critics Poll: Jazz Album of the Year, Female Vocalist, Rising Star–Jazz Artist, and Rising Star–Female Vocalist. Her third album, For One to Love, was released on September 5, 2015, to critical acclaim from The New York Times, The Guardian, and Los Angeles Times. It won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Marie Shahoian</span> American singer-songwriter

Eve Marie Shahoian is an American classical crossover and jazz singer-songwriter. She performs as 'Eve Marie' or 'Eve Shahoian' and is the creator-composer of the album Waiting for You.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You Might Need Somebody</span> 1980 song by Turley Richards

"You Might Need Somebody" is a song written by Tom Snow and Nan O'Byrne, and first recorded in 1980 by American singer and guitarist Turley Richards. The following year, American jazz and R&B singer Randy Crawford released her version which charted well in the United Kingdom and was a modest hit in Flanders (Belgium) and New Zealand. In 1997, English singer Shola Ama's version charted well throughout Europe and New Zealand.

References

  1. "Shola Yetunde Adisa". Ancestry Institute. Ancestry. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  2. "Shola Adisa Farrar – Hot Casa Records". hotcasarecords.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  3. Veridiano, Ruby (September 24, 2017). "An American in Paris: Shola Adisa-Farrar is unifying borders through music". NBC News. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  4. Carlinsky, Dan (May 26, 2016). "Seven Questions with Shola Adisa-Farrar, American in Paris". Fordham Newsroom. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  5. "Alumni Spotlight—Shola Adisa-Farrar '02". Lick-Wilmerding High School. July 26, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  6. Sabir, Wanda (February 14, 2017). "Shola Adisa-Farrar brings her new CD home Feb. 15–16". San Francisco Bay View. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  7. "Shola Adisa-Farrar's New Jazz Album 'Sets New Artistic Standards' – Oakland Post". Oakland Post. March 8, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  8. "Shola Adisa-Farrar on Afro-jazz music [The Morning Call] | Africanews". Africanews. August 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  9. "Hey... Have You Heard About Shola Adisa-Farrar?". urbansuitejazz.com. Retrieved December 1, 2017.