Ashleigh Smith
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Biography
A warm, soulful vocalist well-schooled in jazz traditions, Ashleigh Smith's music is filled with gentle, languid grooves, Latin flourishes and silky pop hooks which have seen her compared to the likes of Sade and Jill Scott.
Based in Dallas, she grew up in a musical family led by her piano-playing father and saxophonist grandfather, and started singing along to Ella Fitzgerald records at the age of four with her mother, before later completing a bachelors degree in jazz studies at the University of North Texas. She also spent five years as a backing singer for R&B star Chrisette Michele and triumphed in the Miss Black Texas USA beauty pageant, before winning the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition in 2014 and claiming a $5,000 prize and a recording contract with Concord Records.
Working with her mentor and former university tutor Rosana Eckert, she penned a string of upbeat, romantic jazz-pop songs for her debut album 'Sunkissed' in 2016, but also covered 'Blackbird' by The Beatles, 'Sara Smile' by Hall & Oates and 'Pure Imagination' from the 1971 film 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. Other stand-out tracks included the socially conscious, rallying cry 'The World Is Calling' and the big band showstopper 'Into the Blue', marking Smith out as bright young talent who naturally brought together the world's of jazz, soul and pop.
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