Niki King
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Singer/songwriter Niki King has an impressive catalogue of experience as a vocalist, performer, writer and recording artist. Most recently she won the highly acclaimed Perrier Young Jazz Vocalist 2001 award at the Café De Paris in London with a further nomination for the prestigious 'Spirit of Scotland' Music Award 2001. Presently working with Bluey of Incognito fame she features on his Para:Diso album and Releases her debut album of original material entitled "New Day" on Rice Records with a live launch at the Blue Note, Tokyo in December 2001. Musical Background: Aged 19 King joined the charismatic jazz/funk group 'Captain Shifty' as co-writer and lead vocalist releasing a single with Acid Jazz records and further Releases on the Greater London Grooves album. For two years King toured and performed with the band in many prestigious venues such as Ronnie Scotts and The Jazz Café as well as leading festivals such as Glastonbury and T in the Park. Headlining many top events in Scotland the group made their final performance to 15,000 people as top bill on Glasgow's New Year main stage. "Rich and mellow soul vibes putting the blues back into jazz" - Blues and Soul review on The Basic Collective. King was involved heavily within the Scottish underground music scene and put together a new band called 'The Basic Collective', writing and performing new original material described as soul/jazz with Blackanized producer/writer Stevie Christie. Also at this time King co-wrote and featured with trip hop group Three Bag Brew for the East Coast Project Blunted album which gained huge recognition in America. King then became lead vocalist for the East Coast 'live' Project with further residencies as lead vocalist at Café graffiti's legendary Lizzard Lounge and the Jazz Joint. King had further success with The Collective appearing live on BBC TV and performing at the Georgian International Arts Festival alongside legend Paco Pena and actress Vanessa Redgrave. King started recording an album of material co-written with pianist Stevie Christie combining King's lead and rich layers of backing vocals with Christie's Hammond organ skills, live instrumentation, samples and beats. Alongside her writing and recording, King returned to her passion for Jazz (her father is a highly respected jazz vocalist) and started working with Jazz guitarist Marcus Ford. King quickly gained great recognition within the jazz scene and went on to headline with top jazz vocalists including Charlie Parkers singer the legendary Sheila Jordan, Stacy Kent, Tina May and Suzanne Bonnar. King then captured her beautiful and intimate sound with Marcus Ford on acoustic guitar for her debut jazz CD entitled 'Mellow Shades' and released on Ladybug Music 2001. Awards: King was the first Scottish singer ever to reach the Perrier Jazz Awards final and went on to win the highly acclaimed accolade of Perrier young Jazz Vocalist 2001 at the prestigious Café de Paris in London. As part of the award King recorded a CD with Jazz fm released in June 2001. Further in the year King was nominated for the Glenfiddich Spirit Of Scotland Music Award 2001, alongside some of Scotlands leading Artists, with the award deemed to be one of Scotlands top accolades. The Future: After hearing Kings music Radio 1 DJ and Talkin Loud creator Giles Peterson recommended and introduced King to the highly respected and talented Bluey writer/producer/creator of Incognito. Since that meeting they have gone on to write and record together and King features on Bluey's forthcoming Para:Diso album as well as signing to his Rice Records label for her debut album entitled "New Day" with the first release in Japan and live launch at The Blue Note, Tokyo in December 2001. King also co-wrote and performed with deep house artist Aquabassino signed to the cult French label F-communication for Aquabassino's much anticipated album released in July 2001 and is performing live with Aquabassino for part of his promotional world-wide tour. April - Wins prestigious Perrier Young Jazz Vocalist 2001 award at the Café de Paris, London. June - Niki King Jazz Quintet performs at the 606 jazz club, London. July - Performs in Geneva, Switzerland with Aquabassino. August - Niki King Jazz Quintet sells out show at the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival performing at 'La belle Angelle' one of the main venues in the festival. September - building a strong following in London and becoming a firm favourite at the well known 606 Jazz Club in Chelsea and performing with some of best jazz musicians in Britain. Dates in Paris with Aquabassino. October - Album of original material entitled 'New Day' released in Japan. Promotional work, Tokyo. November - Niki King jazz quintet to perform in Switzerland for exclusive dates at Zurichs biggest jazz venue 'Moods'. Dates in Berlin and Italy with Aquabassino. Nominated for the prestigious Scotland on Sunday Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award. A highly acclaimed accolade in Scotland. December - Live launch of album at the Blue Note, Tokyo.
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