Aruba Red (born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

as Natascha Eleonoré Bruce) is a London-based alt-soul and trip hop musician, named after a female pirate legend. She has described her sound as "Alternative Soul music centred around themes of transformation and healing, influenced by trip hop, minimalist electronica, glitch, soul, acoustic folk and dub".

Early Life

Aruba Red is the daughter of Cream bassist, vocalist and songwriter Jack Bruce.

Career

2008-2015

Aruba Red first appeared as a featured artist on Nitin Sawhney's album

London Undersound Nitin Sawhney's eighth studio album ''London Undersound'' was released on , by Cooking Vinyl. It includes collaborations with Paul McCartney, Natty, Imogen Heap, Reena Bhardwaj, Ojos de Brujo, Anoushka Shankar, Tina Grace, Faheem Mazhar, Aru ...

released on

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...

in 2008, on the track ''Last Train to Midnight'' which she co-wrote. This collaboration was born out of Aruba Red being selected to work on Sawhney's project ''Aftershock London'' which led to an 18-month residency at London's

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

with artists including Camilo Tirado,

Riz MC Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...

, Ayanna Witter-Johnson and Sam Carter. Other collaborations and features include

's 2011 album '' All of You''. She also collaborated with Jamaican Reggae Artist Jah Cure on her track ''Light Up Light Up'' released on the Jamaican record label TAD's which was play listed on Irie FM alongside her collaboration ''Struggling'' with Reggae artist Jah Mason. A video was shot for ''Light Up Light Up'' in

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

. The video was directed by Aruba Red's sister Kyla Simone Bruce. Aruba Red has toured with Maverick Sabre,

Natty Natty may refer to: People with the given name * Natty Dominique (1896-1982), American jazz trumpeter * Natty Hollmann (1939-2021), Argentine philanthropist * Natty King (born 1977), Jamaican Reggae artist * Natty Zavitz, actor in ''Degrassi: T ...

, Fat Freddy's Drop and

Ms. Dynamite Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born 26 April 1981), better known as Ms. Dynamite, is a British singer and rapper. She is the recipient of the Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards. Early years She was born Niomi Arleen Mc ...

. Aruba Red has performed at festivals including

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

, Boardmasters Festival,

Big Chill Festival The Big Chill was an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August. The 2011 line-up included The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Jessie J, R ...

, Freeze Festival, One Love Festival,

Rise Festival Rise was a free anti-racism music festival held in London, England, from 1996 to 2008. Originally organised as an anti-racism festival by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), it was revived as such by the former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. In J ...

, and Thailand's International Hot Air Balloon Festival. In 2012, Aruba Red released an EP entitled "Demos In Disguise" independently via

Ditto Music Ditto Music is an online music distribution company. It distributes music to 160 digital music stores, including Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Vevo, Apple Music, Beatport, Deezer, and Shazam. It currently operates from its head office i ...

. Initially the release was only available in digital format, a physical edition was later made available in 2013 featuring several bonus tracks. The digital version of the release features 5 original songs whereas the limited ''Red String'' physical edition features 8 original tracks and an acoustic ''mashup'' cover version of Nirvana's song '' Something in the Way'' and Ladysmith Black Mambazo's ''Homeless''. There is also a live performance version of this cover featuring guitarist Charlie Laffer and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Aruba Red - Something In The Way (Nirvana) vs Homeless (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
She recorded backing vocals for her father's last album ''Silver Rails,'' which was released on 24 March 2014 on

Esoteric Records Esoteric Recordings is a UK independent record label specialising in 1970s progressive rock, folk, psychedelic, and jazz-rock reissues as part of Cherry Red Records. Its releases include both catalogue reissues and new works from artists who sh ...

. In March 2015, Aruba Red was featured on 'Rip Me', a song released by 'Halflife', the collaborative project between

and dubstep producer

DJ Distance Distance (born Greg Sanders) is a British dubstep producer and DJ. He also founded the record label Chestplate, whose sonic direction followed his style, fusing metal influences with dubstep templates. Distance's involvement in Mary Anne Hobbs ...

. In the same month, Aruba also wrote and recorded an exclusive song with Nitin Sawhney for Sawhney's

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

show 'Spins The Globe'. The track 'Fractured Heart' was written about the last few days Aruba spent with her late father Jack Bruce before his death on 25 October 2014. On 24 October 2015, Aruba Red performed "

We're Going Wrong "We're Going Wrong" is a song by British supergroup Cream from the album ''Disraeli Gears''. The song was written by bassist Jack Bruce and was the only song on ''Gears'' that Jack wrote without lyricist Pete Brown. Song structure With the song ...

" and " Folksong" at her father's tribute concert 'Sunshine Of Your Love - A Concert Celebrating the Life and Music of Jack Bruce' which she co-produced with Nitin Sawhney. Over £30,000 was raised for Bruce's local children's hospice EACH.

2018 - present

After taking a hiatus from making music professionally, losing her father and becoming a mother, on 31 August 2018, Aruba Red made her comeback releasing an EP entitled "Holy Waters" independently via

. The EP features guest production from Nitin Sawhney and guitar by Phil Manzanera. The EP reached number 7 in the Top 10 iTunes Soul / RnB chart on its release date. It received positive reviews from Tinnitist, The Filtered Excellence, MixMag, and music blog Mystic Sons. On 19 September online music magazine Tinnitist premiered "Goddess Vibes", the first music video from Holy Waters, which became the website's most viewed song of 2018. Aruba Red signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music on 8 November 2018. In June 2019, Aruba Red was awarded the 'Transmission Fund Grant' by

Help Musicians UK Help Musicians (formerly Musicians Benevolent Fund), is a United Kingdom charity offering help for musicians throughout their careers. History It was created by Victor Beigel in 1921 as the Gervase Elwes Memorial Fund, following the death of En ...

to support the writing of her new album. On New Year's Day 2020, Aruba Red released a visual for her song "Violet Electric feat. Phil Manzanera In February 2020 Aruba Red released her live video Blue filmed at The Vortex Jazz Club on Blue Monday. On 6 March 2020, Aruba Red released her EP Shadow Work, which received positive reviews from At The Barrier, PauzeRadio, and Spiral Earth. This release was followed with Aruba Red's debut headline concert at

St Pancras Old Church St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in Somers Town, Central London. It is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, and is believed by many to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England. The church i ...

on 11 March.

Mental Health

On 2 November 2019, Aruba Red spoke at BBC Introducing Live on a panel discussing mental health in the music industry and in December 2019 she featured on the Elevate Music Podcast, discussing inter-generational patterns around addiction and co-dependency. In February 2020 she was interviewed on BBC Radio Sussex about her own experiences battling depression and escaping an abusive relationship and using art to heal. On 27 April 2020, Aruba Red launched her 'Meditation Mondays' series on instagram after hosting a guided meditation for the shesaid.so collective.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Red, Aruba British hip hop singers Living people Singers from London World music singers Feminist musicians British women singers Musicians from Stuttgart British world music musicians Year of birth missing (living people)