Samara Joy

Jazz vocalist Samara Joy – born Samara Joy McLendon in the Bronx, New York on November 11, 1999 – was born into a musical family that included her grandparents, who were founding members of Philadelphia gospel group The Savettes, and her father, who had played bass for Andraé Crouch. She attended Fordham High School for the Arts and was honored with the Best Vocalist award at Fordham University’s Essentially Ellington competition held at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. She then attended SUNY’s Purchase College as a voice major, eventually being named an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar. In 2019, Samara Joy won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She began to build a wider audience with her well-received videos on social media with one video being streamed more than 1.5 million times. She then toured Europe in 2021, the same year that she released her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album. Named the Best New Artist by Jazz Times in 2021, she undertook a tour of the US, which included stops at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival. Her second album, Linger Awhile, was released in September 2022 and earned her Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album.

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