ArinMaya has been singing since forever/hailing from chicago/choirs since age 5/howard university/stanford university everyday people a cappella/NYC/quit job and just returned from paris/blue note paris--swan bar--cafe universel/has recorded and/or shared the stage with the late jeffrey p. radford, jonathan grande, black daylight, drunken monkee, T.I.M., phenom, faro z, bobby wooten jr, richard smallwood, juju child, boney fields, blitz the ambassador, tony terry, hypnotic brass ensemble, mario canonge, greg privat, and many more/recorded her first demo in paris covering jazz standards, soul, neo-soul and one original/currently resides in Brooklyn/soon to be seen on a stage near you
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(EXTENDED VERSION below)
ArinMaya was born and raised in Chicago, right into the arms of two music-loving parents and into a household where music was the backdrop. At age 5 she begged Mrs. Robinson, the children’s choir director to let her join Little Warriors one year premature. Her wish was granted. Moving onto Imani Ya Watume, the youth choir, she became a regular soloist and was the voice of the drill team, filling the 3,000 seater sanctuary (sans microphone) every other Sunday with "I've got a feeling, I've got a feeling church, I've got a feeling the TUCC drill team's gonna step for Christ." She remembers always coming home from church to her father's record selections: The Clark Sisters' You Are The Sunshine, random recordings of Stevie Wonder or Pharoah Sanders, Original Broadway recordings of songs like Ain't Misbahavin' and many more. A loyal member of All God's Children under the direction of Harriet Ziegenhals, Arin went on to join every school choir/chorale she could join: Chamber Choir, Women's Chorale, Gospel Choir, Student/Faculty Chorale--the list goes on. In the Illinois High School Solo and Ensemble Adjudications, she received a top ranking for every performance: Lift Thine Eyes (Mendelssohn), Ave Maria, and Sound the Trumpet (Purcell). Singing is her lifeline. But it wasn't always the obvious path for her to follow. A graduate of Howard University (2004), she relishes in her memory of the single Vocal Jazz class she took with Prof. Charles Covington, where she fell in love with jazz all over again. During her junior year while participating in a domestic exchange at Stanford University, she joined, toured and recorded with Everyday People A Cappella. It wasn't until 2005 when she heard God kindly remind her that if she wasn't going to use this gift He had given to her, He would kindly re-allocate it, that she started getting serious, taking voice lessons in New York City with recording artists Jeremiah and Djoré Nance, and producer/musical director Danny Holgate and songstress Gail Nelson. She began taking to stages at open mic sessions: Sugar Bar, The Village Underground, Cleopatra's Needle and more. Even with better breathing techniques and a now more free-flowing vibrato, ArinMaya found herself stuck behind several desks, being constantly asked by co-workers to stop humming. So in December 2007, she finally decided to leap for her dreams--her daddy had always asked her, "if somebody came and handed you a record deal right now, would you take it?" to which her obvious answer, even at the age of 11, was YES--leaving her job to head to Paris. While there she sang regularly at jam sessions like Le Blue Note, L'Area Bar and Swan Bar, accompanied by several amazing musicians and composers. Blessed with the opportunity to record a demo while there, ArinMaya recently returned to the states ready to find a new band to perform and record and continue living out her dreams and making it a graspable reality. A child of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, and classical, ArinMaya's sound is often compared to Jill Scott and Nina Simone. She hopes to create her own full sound that draws from all the love she has for the many different types of music she has studied over the years.
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