Samara Joy

With a voice as smooth as velvet, Samara Joy's star seems to rise with each performance and we are delighted to present Joy to open the new year in the Ravenscroft Jazz Series.

Growing up in New York, her home was filled with the sounds of not only her father's songs and songwriting process, but the inspiration of many Gospel and R&B artists. Her father toured with gospel artist Andrae Crouch. Her grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, led the Philadelphia-based gospel group The Savettes. 

Her friends were into jazz and shared favorite recordings. Joy says the turning point for her toward jazz was hearing Sarah Vaughan's version of "Lover Man." She studied jazz at SUNY Purchase, eventually named Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and winning the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. That put her on the jazz-world radar. Still in her early 20s, Joy then recorded her debut album, backed by the Pasquale Grasso Trio.