artist info

In 2013, Janiva Magness received 2 awards from The Blues Foundation in Memphis, TN-- Song of the Year for "I Won't Cry" and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. She was also 2012’s recipient of The Blues Foundation’s prestigious awards for B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty and beauty born from her life experience. A charismatic performer known for her electrifying live shows, Magness is a gutsy and dynamic musical powerhouse. Her streak of nominations for Blues Music Awards continues this year in the category of Best Contemporary Female Artist. She received the coveted 2009 Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer of The Year (she is only the second woman to ever win this award, Koko Taylor being the first) and for Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, an honor she also received in 2006 and 2007. She has received eleven previous Blues Music Award nominations.

USA Today declared, “Magness is a blues star,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer said, “Magness sings superb, potent soul-blues with a scorching intensity.” Billboard writes, “Magness carves out a niche by singing the blues with maturity and sophistication.” Singer Magazine writes, “Her voice is sultry, smoky and strong with jazz, blues, and soul textures enveloping it.”

In the last few years she seems to have really hit her stride, creating powerful and soulful blues, R&B and soul music. Her latest release, Stronger For It (2012), finds Magness exploring new ground with all the chops and emotional commitment she's brought to the blues world for so long. In addition to covering Hubbard, Magness dips into the songbooks of Tom Waits, Shelby Lynne, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Ike and Tina Turner, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Buddy and Julie Miller and Sweet and Thorn. Alt-country, alt-rock, soul, blues, whatever source you want to name, Magness transforms it into something personal and downright exhilarating. This is not a case of trying out different genre exercises to see if Magness can handle them; it's a case of finding great songs and arranging them into her own original and intoxicating approach. But that's not all. For the first time in her career, Magness co-writes three songs herself, with producer/guitarist Dave Darling. All three are impishly hook-filled, and they stand neatly alongside the songs by the more celebrated writers.