Samara Joy

GRAMMY-Award winner, Samara Joy, makes her case to join the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Billie Holiday as the next jazz singing sensation recorded by the venerable label, Verve Records. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her fans like Anita Baker and Regina King, appearances on the TODAY Show, and millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star. On her latest album, ‘Linger Awhile’, Samara introduces that massive audience to a slew of classic standards several times older than she is through her timeless, irresistible sound.

Samara is still relatively new to jazz. Growing up in the Bronx, it was music of the past — the music of her parent’s childhoods, as she put it — that she listened to most. She treasures her musical lineage, which stretches back to her grandparents Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, both of whom performed with Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and runs through her father, who is a singer, songwriter and producer who toured with gospel artist Andraé Crouch.