Vanessa Collier, soulful blues saxophonist-vocalist 2022 Blues Music Awards winner, continues her year-long US Tour, with a local performance in Memphis at Railgarten, 2166 Central Ave., Friday, October 21. Show: 8pm. Tickets: $10. Info: (901) 504-4342 or visit https://901tix.com/
Collier’s career and acclaim continue to ascend; she recently won “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year” at the 2022 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, which wasn’t her first BMA win: Vanessa has won a total of three Blues Music Awards – two for “Horn Player of the Year” in 2019 and 2020. The Texas-born musician, now calling Philadelphoa her home, also won “Horn Player of the Year” at the 2022 Blues Blast Awards.
Read a recent interview with Vanessa in the Colorado Gazette.
“Vanessa Collier was an absolute stand out at the 2021 New York State Blues Festival grand return to the State fairgrounds this past June,” writes NYSMusic.com in a review last December. “She treated Syracuse’s most intimate venue, the 443 Social Club and Lounge to a blue note-esque performance in early December. Club owner Julie B Leone told NYS Music that it was their fastest show to sell out in under 24 hours.”
Vanessa Collier: Some Background
As a seven-time Blues Music Award (BMA) nominee and a two-time BMA Award Winner for Horn Player of the Year (2020 & 2019), Vanessa Collier is excited to kick off her 2021 tour in support of her critically acclaimed, self-produced fourth album, 2020 release, Heart on the Line. In addition to her BMA awards, Vanessa is also a multi- award-winning songwriter, master musician, and multi-instrumentalist, known for seamlessly weaving together funk, soul, rock, and blues styles through soulful vocals, searing saxophone solos, and witty songwriting skills. With her career still in its infancy, Vanessa has already turned many heads, garnering tremendous accolades for her trademark high energy, powerful, fiery, and passionate live shows.
Collier started playing saxophone in the fourth grade and was in every school, all-county, and all-state band possible, while also playing AAU basketball, lettering all four years on her varsity basketball team, and graduating high school with honors. After high school, Vanessa earned a scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where she graduated with dual degrees in Performance and Music Production &; Engineering. Since graduating from Berklee, Vanessa has toured extensively, both nationally and internationally, and has released three critically acclaimed albums prior to Heart on the Line: 2014’s Heart, Soul & Saxophone; 2017’s Meeting My Shadow; and 2018’s Honey Up. Honey Up spent nine weeks on the Top 15 Billboard Charts, three months on the Living Blues Report, and is currently spinning on Sirius XM radio.
Vanessa says she’s happy performing on stages across the world, hoping that she can make a difference with fans and followers along the way. “I am driven to do this because I find it a total form of expression and connection,” she explains. “I love connecting with an audience and feeling their energy and I hope to inspire people to follow their dreams and passions, to find what brings them joy, and then to pursue it doggedly.” Vanessa also takes that message to young people as she runs clinics across the country and is active with Blues in the Schools programs. At a recent Blues in the School program, Vanessa invited a stage full of elementary and middle school aged kids up to dance around her while she performed a blues shuffle. Watching the joy on the faces of Vanessa, the kids, and everyone in the auditorium, it is no wonder why Vanessa has become awe-inspiring to all who meet her. On top of talent and hard work, Vanessa shares an incredible heart and a strong purpose. To borrow from the words of an article in Blues Blast Magazine, “Vanessa is an important part of the future of the blues, and it would be cool too support her journey.”
October 21 (Fri.) – Memphis TN@Railgarten
October 22 (Sat.) – St. Louis MO@National Blues Museum
November 4 (Fri)- Portsmouth NH@Jimmy’s
November 5 (Sat) – New York NY@Iridium
November 10 (Thur) – Buffalo NY@Sportsmens Tavern
November 11 (Fri) – Rochester NY@Abilene
December 2 (Fri) – Dalton MA@Stationry Factory
December 5/6 (Mon/Tue) – Lima NY@Fanatics Pub
(MEMPHIS TN) – dougdeutschPR