Vocalist Samara Joy is a 3-time Grammy Award winner – Best New Artist, Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Jazz Performance.

Samara began singing jazz as a senior at Fordham High School for the Arts and was awarded Best Vocalist at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition. Following her graduation as valedictorian, she attended the jazz program at SUNY Purchase, where she became the school’s Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and graduated Magna Cum Laude. While in college, she also won the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, one of the most sought-after honors for a rising jazz performer. Her recordings are Samara Joy, Linger Awhile and A Joyful Holiday.

Most recently, the breakout vocalist released the original single “Why I’m Here.” This rousing track from the Netflix film Shirley further establishes Samara as a voice to be reckoned with

“The close precision and frothy power of her voice stand out immediately … so does the depth of her comfort within the jazz tradition”  – The New York Times

Sponsored in part by the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board.