nazelah jamison is a talented and energetic performance poet, actress and vocalist based in Oakland CA. Born in Bamberg, SC, nazelah had a love of performance from a very early age, taking her first dance lessons at the age of 4; at 5, she practiced for days in the mirror hoping to audition for the musical motion picture “Annie!â€, only to be disappointed when the auditions never even came near her tiny town.
At age 7, nazelah began a 6-year love affair with ballet, performing with the Atlanta Dance Theater. After dabbling for a bit in modeling, nazelah pursued her first true ambition acting & auditioned for and was accepted to Northside H.S. for Performing Arts as a drama major. She transferred to Philadelphia Creative & Performing Arts from which she graduated, & went on to study journalism at Temple University, but quit the 2nd year due to lack of interest.
nazelah began playing music with bands in 1992, first as a vocalist and then a keyboardist in a few local Philly bands, as well as recording vocals for various local artists. She was a background vocalist on Michael Franti’s Spearhead album “Home†(Capitol 1994) and toured with the band nationally & globally until settling in the East Bay in 1996. nazelah trained for a couple of years at Jean Shelton Actor’s Studio (SF), then started performing poetry in 1998. She was part of a performance poetry project with French hip hop artists Les Nubians; nazelah is featured on the album, “Les Nubians Presents: Echos: Chapter One Nubian Voyager (2005 Triloka Records/Artemis)â€, and performs periodically with Spearhead and Les Nubians, as well as having shared the stage with: Shane Koyczan, Talaam Acey, Roger Bonair-Agard, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Taylor Mali, The Suicide Kings, Jason Carney, The Coup, Golda Supernova and others.
nazelah discovered Poetry Slam in 1999 and began to compete, subsequently going to the National Poetry Slam Competition 5 times on various Bay Area teams. More recently, she and her husband, poet Dahled, produce the Oakland Poetry Slam & have coached Team Oakland to Nationals the last 3 years. Since 2000, she has been hosting many Bay Area spoken word events as well. She is a gifted emcee, and producers and performers alike are put at ease by her demeanor; she is currently working on 2 chapbooks, as well as a musical collaboration and a video project. Her love of hip-hop translates onto the stage.
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