Samara Joy | |
|---|---|
 Joy in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Samara Joy McLendon |
| Born | November 11, 1999 (age 24) Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2019–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | samarajoy |
Samara Joy McLendon[1] (born November 11, 1999) is an American jazz singer. She released her self-titled debut album in 2021 and was subsequently named Best New Artist by JazzTimes. Her second album, Linger Awhile (2022), reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.[2] At the 2023 Grammy Awards, she won the awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist. Her 2023 single "Tight" won Best Jazz Performance at the following ceremony.
A native of the Castle Hill[3] neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City,[4] Joy was born in 1999 into a musical family. Her paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, were founders of Philadelphia gospel group The Savettes. Her grandfather, Elder Goldwire McLendon was also a finalist on season 3 of BET's Gospel Talent show Sunday Best. Her father—a vocalist and bass player who has toured with gospel musician Andraé Crouch[5][6]—introduced her to gospel greats such as The Clark Sisters,[7] and soul and Motown music.[8] She attended Fordham High School for the Arts and performed in its jazz band.[9] During this time, she won Best Vocalist at the Essentially Ellington festival, a high school competition hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center.[9][6]
She first encountered jazz in a meaningful way[10] when she enrolled in the jazz program at SUNY's Purchase College as a voice major,[11][12] and was named an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar.[13] Friends there introduced her to the recordings of great jazz vocalists including Sarah Vaughan and Fitzgerald,[14] and such instrumentalists as Kenny Washington, Jon Faddis (with whom she studied),[15] and Ingrid Jensen.[12]
In 2019, as Samara McLendon, she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.[16][17] Working with producer and eventual manager Matt Pierson, she recorded her self-titled debut album while still in college,[11] graduating magna cum laude in 2021.[18][19] Samara Joy was released on July 9, 2021, on Whirlwind Recordings.[20] Jazz Times named her Best New Artist for 2021.[21][22] In February 2021, she was featured in Women of Color on Broadway, Inc.'s music video of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.[23] In an interview, film director Regina King called her "a young woman who seems like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are both living in her body."[24]
She released a number of viral video performances, including one that had been viewed more than 1.5 million times as of October 2020.[25] These videos had as of November 2022 gained her 200,000 followers on TikTok.[26] Partly on the strength of this success, she toured Europe,[20] including a series of sold-out concerts in Italy and Austria.[7] In 2021 and continuing into 2022, she toured the U.S.,[27][28] including bookings at the 2022 Monterey Jazz Festival,[29] Lincoln Center Summer For The City's Jazz Underground series,[30] Winter Jazzfest,[31] and other festivals,[32][33] as well as in Europe.
On February 15, 2022, she performed on Today with guitarist Pasquale Grasso[34] and performed again on Today in September 2022.[35] On June 15, 2022, she was featured at Carnegie Hall's 16th Annual Notable Occasion.[36] and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival.[37] She was featured on jazz pianist Julius Rodriguez's 2022 album Let Sound Tell All.[38]
On September 16, 2022, she released her second album, Linger Awhile, on Verve Records.[39] The album features drummer Kenny Washington, guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, and bassist David Wong.[40][41] Her bookings for Winter 2022 included singing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on its Big Band Holidays tour.[42][43]
She was nominated and won two awards at the Grammy Awards in 2023:[44] Best Jazz Vocal Album for Linger Awhile and Best New Artist.[45]
| Album Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [46] |
JPN Hot [47] |
UK Jazz [48] | |||
| Samara Joy |
|
— | 94 | 4 | |
| Linger Awhile | 158 | 38 | 1 | ||
| Linger Awhile Longer | — | — | — | ||
| A Joyful Holiday | — | — | — | ||
| Year | Singles | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | "Warm in December" | Digital single. |
| 2023 | "Someone Like You" | Spotify Sessions single, subsequently released digitally.[53] |
| "Tight" | Digital single. | |
| "Now And Then" | Released in collaboration with US retailer "Theory".[54] |
| Singles | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Summertime" | 2021 | Ayanna Fowler, Barbara Douglas | Non-album single |
| "If You Were Mine" | Bruce Harris Quartet | Soundview | |
| "Bird of Red" | |||
| "Django's Lullaby" | Ruben Fox | Introducing... | |
| "So Much Joy" | Ruben Fox, Shenel Johns, Vuyo Sotashe | ||
| "Fragile" | Eric Wyatt | A Song of Hope | |
| "Say Her Name" | |||
| "Solitude" | Pasquale Grasso | Pasquale Plays Duke | |
| "I'm in a Mess" | 2022 | Be-Bop! | |
| "In Heaven" | Julius Rodriquez | Let Sound Tell All | |
| "Two Hearts (Lawns)" | Terri Lyne Carrington, Ravi Coltrane | New Standards Vol. 1 |
| Year | Association | Category | Nominated Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition | Herself | Won | [55] | |
| 2021 | JazzTimes | Best New Artist | Won | [21] | |
| 2022 | Jazz Music Awards | Best New Jazz Artist | Won | [56] | |
| 2023 | Grammy Awards | Best New Artist | Won | [57] | |
| Best Jazz Vocal Album | Linger Awhile | Won | |||
| NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Jazz Album – Vocal | Nominated | [58] | ||
| 2024 | Grammy Awards | Best Jazz Performance | "Tight" | Won | [59] |
