“Silky-voiced rising jazz star” (New York Times)
Samara Joy has been nominated for two Grammys at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards®. The 23-year-old first-time-nominee is up for Best New Artist, and her Verve Records debut Linger Awhile(released Sept 16, 2022) is nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album. The nominations cap a banner debut season that has found the young Bronx native dazzling crowds all over the world, garnering millions of likes on TikTok, and earning glowing public endorsements from the likes of Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield, NBC’s Hoda Kotb, and more.
Samara Joy’s new album Linger Awhile is a collection of beloved songs by George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and more, updated with a modern twist for a new generation. Recorded in Samara’s hometown of New York City by Chris Allen and produced by Matt Pierson, the album features the exemplary musicianship of Ben Paterson (piano), Pasquale Grasso (guitar), David Wong (double bass), and Kenny Washington (drums). Linger Awhile highlights Samara’s “warm, capacious vocal instrument and breathtaking technique” (Boston Globe) and “youthful exuberance” (WBGO), and per NPR All Things Considered, solidifies Samara’s unique role as “a classic jazz singer from a new generation.”
Born and raised in the “Boogie Down Bronx,” music has always been a guiding presence within Samara’s family. Her grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, led the well-known Philadelphia-based gospel group, The Savettes, and her father toured with the renowned Andrae Crouch. Although she has relished the process of digging through music history since early childhood, it wasn’t until she was asked to sit in with her high school jazz band that she discovered her love of jazz. Samara took home the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition prize while earning her degree from SUNY Purchase’s jazz studies program and eventually graduated as the Ella Fitzgerald Scholar. Now, less than two months after the release of her Verve Records debut, Samara has added a new credential to her impressive resume: 2x Grammy nominee.
