|
[Home]
[Up]
[2 Pistols]
[Ace Hood]
[Alexa Ray Joel]
[Alex Jasin]
[Alex Woodard]
[Algebra]
[Anthony David]
[Birdman]
[Baby Boy da Prince]
[Brandon Rogers]
[Brendan James]
[B-Spitta]
[Casely]
[Chingy]
[C-Murder]
[Collie Buddz]
[Craig David]
[David Banner]
[Devin The Dude]
[DJ Felli Fel]
[Dondria]
[elodioO]
[Eve]
[The Great Kat]
[Hell Rell]
[Hilary McRae]
[Jeremy Schonfeld]
[J. Holiday]
[Joe]
[Jordin Sparks]
[Karina Pasian]
[Kat DeLuna]
[Kaz Kyzah]
[KeAnthony]
[Keldamuzik]
[Kelly Rowland]
[Kerli]
[Keyshia Cole]
[Kirk Franklin]
[K Smith]
[Kia Shine]
[Lady GaGa]
[Lalah Hathaway]
[Lesley Roy]
[Lil Mama]
[Lil' Ru]
[Linda Strawberry]
[Lloyd]
[Lucy Walsh]
[Marion Raven]
[Marques Houston]
[Melissa Jiménez]
[Mishon]
[Miss Issa]
[Mya]
[Nina B]
[Noel Gourdin]
[Nya Jade]
[Paula DeAnda]
[Pitbull]
[PlayRadioPlay!]
[Question?]
[Qui]
[Raheem DeVaughn]
[Ray Lavender]
[Razah]
[Robin Thicke]
[The Rocket Summer]
[Rocko]
[Ryan Leslie]
[Sean Garrett]
[Sean Kingston]
[Shontelle]
[Spensha Baker]
[Sterling Simms]
[Sunny Valentine]
[Tabi Bonney]
[Tye Tribbett]
[Tyga]
[Tynisha Keli]
[Tyra B]
[Tyrone Wells]
[Wayne Brady]
[William Tell]
[Wyclef Jean]
Click
Here For Diabetes T-Shirts, Items and Gifts
Click
Here for Diabetes Books and Products
| |
Do you want to be added
as a Rising Star? Then click here
to find out how!
Nya Jade
Nia Jade Biography
- About Nya Jade
 Cruising
effortlessly through irresistible ballads, buoyant rock, and soulful pop
symphonies, singer/songwriter Nya Jade’s debut album “My Denial” stands as a
potent introduction to a resourceful and gifted young artist. The San
Francisco-based singer/songwriter has already drawn acclaim throughout the Bay
Area for her unique music, a bold blend of sounds utterly unbound by genre,
unified by Nya’s passionate, perceptive vocals. Songs such as the turbulent
title track “My Denial” and the provocative first single, “One Pill” mark the
emergence of a remarkable new talent, one whose fierce intelligence burns as
brightly as her uncommon creativity.
“I’m such a fan of different forms of music,” Nya says. “My goal from the start
was to make a record where no two songs sounded exactly the same, with my voice
tying it all together.”
Born in Ghana, Nya’s gift for freely traversing artistic boundaries stems from
her transient youth. Her father, a doctor with UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations
program on HIV/AIDS, traveled frequently, and as a result, Nya grew up in such
exotic locales like The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Canada. Her childhood in the
Caribbean exposed her to a diverse range of music, from calypso and reggae to
salsa and classic R&B.
“My doors were always open,” she recalls, “and a whole bunch of different
influences came in and really expanded my musical palette.”
Nya first began exploring her interest in music while at Boston’s Noble and
Greenough School, singing in the boarding school’s Jazz-Pop Octet called Octazz.
After Noble and Greenough, Nya began attending Stanford University, focusing on
a career in medicine. She also joined Talisman, perhaps the most elite unit
among the university’s nine acapella groups. With their mixture of gospel, pop,
and traditional African music, Talisman sang in competitions as well as
concerts, including a performance at the 1996 Olympic Games
Her interest in music soon led to writing songs, expanding on a lifelong habit
of penning personal poetry. Before long, Nya realized that if she was going be a
serious songwriter, she would need to learn to play guitar. “I had all these
ideas for melodies,” she says, “but it was so hard to convey them I realized I
needed to pick up an instrument for myself.”
But with the pressure of being a pre-med student, Nya found herself conflicted
between a career in medicine and her love of singing. After two years, she
resigned from Talisman in order to fully devote her time to her studies.
“Talisman was a time-consuming commitment and something had to go,” she recalls.
“So I left to focus on Organic Chemistry and all that other fun stuff.”
Fate, as it often does, interceded in the winter of Nya’s junior year at
Stanford. Crossing a street after attending a Talisman performance, Nya was hit
by a speeding car. “I was really lucky,” she says. “It could’ve been much, much
worse. My head smashed the windshield before I flew off and landed on my
shoulder. Had I not landed like that, I would’ve landed on my head and that
would’ve been that.”
Nya suffered a dislocated shoulder, along with injuries to her head, back, and
knees, forcing her to take a semester off to heal and attend physical therapy.
As she restored her body to health, Nya found herself rethinking her priorities.
 “It’s cliché, but it was a painful rude awakening,” she says. “I realized that
there was a lot of truth to the old saying, ‘here today, gone tomorrow.’ The
difference of a split second and I might not be here anymore.”
She decided that life’s too short not to live one’s dream. Nya dropped pre-med,
but determined to get a degree, switched majors to Economics. Her guitar lessons
became a crucial part of her physical therapy, while songwriting helped her heal
emotionally.
“When you go though an experience like that,” she says, “you tap into a whole
well of feelings.”
Friends and acquaintances were knocked out by Nya’s emotive voice and heartfelt
lyrics, giving her the courage to try playing her songs in a Stanford coffee
house. “The college environment is very encouraging,” she says. “Everyone is
open to exploring new music. That made me think, ‘Maybe there’s something to
this,’ so I started playing in cafés around San Francisco.”
Nya began frequenting open mic nights around the Bay Area, and with each passing
gig, her fan base grew. Still, she had yet to fully invest in the idea of a
career in music. Upon graduation, she chose “the safety net of staying in
college” and continued onward at Stanford, pursuing a master’s degree in
Organizational Studies. It wasn’t until she took a position at a Silicon Valley
start-up company that she realized that a desk-bound life was not her destiny.
“I was bored to tears,” she says. “I realized that wasn’t I the type of person
to spend my life sitting on the phone.”
Intent on going full-on with her music, Nya put together a band through
Craigslist and started playing out as often as possible. She also recorded a
series of tracks with up-and-coming Bay Area producer Tone, known for his work
as a studio engineer for artists such as Green Day
and Santana. The songs scored airplay on the
local alternative station, Channel 104.9 FM, whose support led to Nya’s sharing
stages with the likes of the Donnas, Evanescence,
Ben Kweller, and Maroon 5. In summer 2004, Nya
and her band wowed the side stage audience at
Dave Matthews Band’s Sacramento show.
Taking in the rapturous response, Nya had an epiphany: “For the first time, I
thought, ‘Hey, this is really happening.’”
While she was determined to make a career for herself, Nya was hesitant about
staking her artistic future on the whims of the ever-fickle music industry.
“My music isn’t cookie-cutter pop that you can market to young kids,” she says.
“I knew the labels were thinking, ‘How do we market her?’ I realized that the
music industry today is more about promotion and distribution, not developing
artists. I knew that if I was going to be serious about a career in music I was
going to have to pave my own path.”
A Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist – and avowed fan of her work – encouraged
Nya to put together a business plan for starting a label of her own. She reached
out to former Atlantic Records President Ron Shapiro, admiring his philosophy of
allowing young artists to develop their own unique potential. Widely regarded as
among the music industry’s most innovative and accomplished executives, Shapiro
responded positively to Nya’s music and vision and came aboard as manager.
As she explored ins and outs of the business, Nya attended the annual NEMO Music
Conference where she struck up a fast friendship with legendary producer Jack
Douglas (Aerosmith,
John Lennon). When the time came to record,
Nya headed down to Los Angeles’ Westlake Audio, where the studio veteran
enlisted a line-up of session players including bassist Dan Rothchild (Beck,
Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple), guitarist Rick
Dufay (Aerosmith), and drummer Dan Potruch.
“It was exciting,” she says, “but since I’d had some studio experience with
Tone, I wasn’t intimidated about working with Jack. I wasn’t afraid to speak up
for myself and make sure that what we recorded was my vision.”
Combining the Douglas-produced sessions along with those helmed by Tone, the
resulting “My Denial” is unquestionably representative of Nya’s multi-faceted
personality. The songs touch upon a range of life’s big issues – from our
pharmacologically obsessed culture (“One Pill”), to romantic ennui (“Leave It
All Behind”), and questions of faith and redemption (“Best I Can”) – all
informed by the songwriter’s witty and intuitive lyrical perspective. At turns
poignant, humorous, and fraught with great beauty, Nya explores the complex
emotional terrain of interpersonal connections in all their many permutations.
“The songs are predominantly about relationships,” she says. “Ultimately, that’s
what life is all about. Whether they’re romantic or friendship or political, our
lives are a tangled web of relationships.”
“My Denial” will be the debut release on Katako Records – the label name comes
from the initials of Nya’s family members. Nya will serve as both artist and
CEO, an unusual but indisputably thrilling dual role. With her musical gifts
more than matched by a daring desire to reshape the very face of the industry,
Nya Jade is poised to spread her wings and bring her songs to the world in
unprecedented fashion.
“It’s so exciting,” she says. The music business is changing and the field is
wide open for creative, alternative ways to get music out there. I truly feel
like the possibilities are endless.”
Watch "Live", the new
video from Nya Jade!
http://www.redmusic.com/streams/NyaJade/nyajade.asx
From the Album My Denial - In Stores Now
Katako Records
http://www.nyajade.com
http://www.myspace.com/nyajade
Nya Jade's new video 'Live' has
recently been added to VH1 Soul.
Check
out 'Live' video on VH1.com:
http://www.vh1.com/vspot/player.jhtml?vid=138253&launchedFrom=/artists/az/nya_jade/artist.jhtml
Direct link to 'Live' video stream:
http://www.redmusic.com/streams/NyaJade/nyajade.asx
Do you want to be added as a Rising
Star? Then click here to find out
how!
|
