Born into a family of academics in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Jazmín Sky was exposed mainly to classical music as a child. Jealous of her older brother’s piano lessons, she begged her mother to let her play an instrument and thus began studying the violin at age 6. In 5th grade she picked up the flute and joined the school chorus, where she was forced to sing such drivel as To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before as well as the insufferable You Light Up My Life.

Jazmín’s destiny as a typical middle-class hick-town white girl thus appeared inevitable (as further evidenced by her inexplicable fondness for Farrah Fawcett hair). That is, until she heard her first taste of Prince on a friend’s stereo (When Doves Cry, Erotic City). Something immediately stirred within Jazmin’s malnourished musical soul, and the experience sparked what would become a life-long love affair with funk and R&B music. Jazmín’s Olivia Newton John albums and her soundtrack to Cats quickly found themselves relegated to the dust bin, to be replaced by the likes of James Brown, The Time, Run DMC, Angela Winbush, and of course, Prince.

Following her escape from Johnstown, Jazmín Sky has graced some of the world’s most exciting cities with her soulful 3-octave voice. She’s lived in Montreal, Madrid, Paris, Rome, and NYC and speaks fluent French, Spanish, Italian and even some Portuguese in addition to her native English. (Suffice it to say, she can fairly be characterized as “language geek” in addition to “soul diva”.) She has participated in a variety of live and recording projects in both Europe and North America, including a collaboration with Grammy award winning producer Narada Michael Walden.

As a songwriter, Jazmín’s music reflects her various influences: old-school R&B and funk, certainly, but also traditional and acid jazz, blues, salsa, hip-hop, gospel and neo-soul. Besides the aforementioned R&B legends, other musical role models include Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Donnie Hathaway, and Aretha Franklin as well as more recent artists like Erykah Badu, Rachelle Ferrell, D’Angelo, Maxwell and Me’shell N’dgeocello.

Upon moving to the San Francisco Bay Area to begin a Ph.D. program at the University of California, Berkeley, Jazmín paid her dues gigging locally for several years before embarking on her first full-length original recording project in 2002. Her resulting debut album -- released in early 2005 by Oakland indie label FunkFace Music -- is absolutely fabulous and you should buy it immediately if you haven’t already done so.

Wake Up Smell the Coffee This ode to an unrequited crush sets sunny vocal harmonies and a lilting flute solo against a thumping bass-alicious hip-hop groove.

R&B/Soul

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