Shakura S'aida

Calling both Switzerland and Canada home since leaving the U.S. when she was eight years old, her professional involvement in the Canadian music scene has been ongoing for the past 20 years, enriching the jazz, blues and classic R&B communities with her soulful voice, enthusiastic personality and commitment to music as an art form. Shakura has taken to the musical stage with roles in such productions as "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Momma, I Want to Sing,? and to the theatre as an actress (the Toronto production of George Boyd's ?Consecrated Ground" in 2004).

Shakura has taken to the musical stage with roles in such productions as "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Momma, I Want to Sing,? and to the theatre as an actress (the Toronto production of George Boyd's ?Consecrated Ground" in 2004). She also carried off supporting roles in film with Sudz Sutherland's ?Doomstown? (2006) and in Frances Anne Solomon's ?A Winter Tale?.

As a solo artist, she has performed at the Apollo Theatre in New York and has been nominated three times by the Toronto Blues Society as the Maple Blues "Female Vocalist of the Year" (2004, 2005, and 2008); she was also nominated as Entertainer of the Year for the 2008 Awards.

The release of her debut blues album "Blueprint" earned strong critical applause. The 11-track CD takes listeners on a journey through the blues of the 1940's and 50's and is infused with Shakura's signature voice and sultry interpretation of the music.