Laila Biali
Laila Biali | |
|---|---|
 Biali at Burlington's Sound of Music Festival in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 3 October 1980 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | Jazz, smooth jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | www |
Laila Biali (born 3 October 1980) is a Canadian jazz singer and pianist. She has been nominated for and won a Juno Award and has worked with Chris Botti and Sting.[1]
Career[edit]
Born in Vancouver, Biali began playing piano at a young age. She studied classical piano for many years. At the Royal Conservatory of Music she was attracted to jazz, and when she was nineteen she entered Humber College in Toronto. Four years later she released the album Introducing the Laila Biali Trio.[2][3]
She moved to New York City and found work as a pianist and vocalist for other musicians. While touring with Paula Cole, she met drummer Ben Wittman, and she and Wittman later married. In 2009 she sang background vocals for Sting's DVD A Winter's Night: Live from Durham Cathedral. She toured with Chris Botti and Suzanne Vega.[2][4] She has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto.[5]
Her second album, Tracing Light (2010), received a Juno Award nomination.[6][2] She recorded House of Many Rooms (2014) with strings and the Toronto Mass Choir. For this album Biali wrote songs and the arrangements. In 2014, she joined the female band Rose & the Nightingale. A few years later she appeared as guest host for Tonic, a jazz program on CBC Radio 2, then became the regular host for Saturday Night Jazz.[2]
Her self-titled 2018 album won the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.[7]
Awards and honors[edit]
- CBC Galaxie Prize, Rising Star Award, National Jazz Awards
- Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada Keyboardist of the Year and Composer of the Year, National Jazz Awards[2]
- 2020 SOCAN Special Award. Haygood Hardy Award for excellence in jazz, instrumental or world music
Discography[edit]
- Introducing the Laila Biali Trio (self-released, 2003)
- Laila Live (CBC, 2006)
- From Sea to Sky (CBC, 2007)
- Tracing Light (self-released, 2010)
- Live in Concert (self-released, 2012)
- House of Many Rooms (self-released, 2014)
- Laila Biali (ACT, 2018)
- Out of Dust (ACT, 2020)
- Your Requests (ACT, 2023)
References[edit]
- ^ Sting Website news article: 24 November 2009 Archived 27 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e Jurek, Thom. "Liala Biali". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ From Sesame Street to Carnegie Hall By Jim Dupuis
- ^ Infantry, Ashante (25 October 2010). "Laila Biali won't be boxed in". Toronto Star. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ Roy Thomson Website Article Archived 18 July 2012 at archive.today
- ^ "Juno Nomination 2010". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
- ^ "Junos 2019: the complete list of winners". CBC Music, 16 March 2019.
External links[edit]
Media related to Laila Biali at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1980 births
- Living people
- Musicians from Vancouver
- Canadian women jazz singers
- Canadian jazz singers
- Canadian jazz composers
- CBC Radio hosts
- Jazz radio presenters
- 21st-century Canadian women singers
- Canadian women radio hosts
- Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year winners
- ACT Music artists
- Canadian women composers