Ivana Daniela Santilli is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

R&B singer and

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

, who has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of the 1990s R&B/pop trio

Bass is Base Bass is Base was a Canadian Contemporary R&B, R&B group based in North York, Ontario. History In 1993, Chin Injeti and Ivana Santilli were in the music group Syndicate 305. At the 1993 Music West conference in Vancouver, Injeti and Santilli met MC ...

Early life and career

Santilli was born to an Italian father and a French-Canadian mother. Santilli's earliest performances began at age 9 playing

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

for her father's Italian wedding band in Toronto. Ivana is also fluent in both Italian and French.

Career

During her schooling, she hooked up with her first band,

, a band which gained national attention. The trio's funk and soul fusion garnered them a number of

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

, CMVA, and MMVA awards, and they released two albums with A&M/Polygram & Island Records in the U.S. Bass is Base broke up, and Santilli asked to be released from her contract with A&M records. She wrote and recorded 10 new songs as a solo artist within a month of the breakup. She then began working as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

(keyboards, Back up vocals) with various bands: Soul Attorneys, Women Ah Run Tings,

Punjabi by Nature Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British T ...

, Holly McNarland. Santilli began a solo career in 1999. She performed in Toronto at The Bamboo Club in March, and released her album ''Brown'' in April. That year she performed in Hamilton as part of Showcase '99. The album ''

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

'' sold very well, outselling some major label releases. The album included soul and bossa nova, as well as drum 'n bass ("Sun + Moon = Tomorrow"), and featured Santilli's vocals, keys, and trumpet. The album led to a Juno nomination in 2000 as best new solo artist, and also featured '"If Ever I Fall", a duet with singer

Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early li ...

during his early career. Santilli toured across North America, including a performance at the 1999 Stardust Picnic festival at Historic Fort York, Toronto. She played live with

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz c ...

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

Brand New Heavies The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New H ...

The Fugees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Jann Arden Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Insensitive (song), Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date. Ea ...

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, Sylk130,

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American hip-hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, '' Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released EP ''BB Queen'' in 2000. She ...

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, and

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. One of her three performances during the Montreal Jazz Festival was the subject of a one-hour

Bravo! CTV Drama Channel (formerly known as Bravo) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel was founded as the Canadian version of the U.S. channel Bravo (which is now owned by NBCUniversal) on January 1, 1995 b ...

television special.''Montreal Jazz Festival'': "Ivana Santilli" at TV Guide
/ref> Peer publishing signed her as a writer in the fall of 2000. In August 2004, she released her second album, '' Corduroy Boogie'', which included the singles, "Deserve", "Superstar" and "What Matters". The video version of "What Matters" appears on a various artists compilation entitled ''Required Listening''. This album featured collaborations with

James Poyser James Jason Poyser is an American songwriter, record producer, musician and current member of the hip hop band The Roots. Poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists such as Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, ...

King Britt King Britt (born 1968) is an American educator, DJ and record producer from Philadelphia. Biography Britt is a 1986 graduate of Central High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1987, he started working at Tower Records, as a buyer for th ...

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, Dego (

4Hero 4hero are an electronic music group from Dollis Hill, London, comprising producers Mark "Marc Mac" Clair & Denis "Dego" McFarlane. While the band is often cited as ''4 Hero'' or ''4-Hero'', the name is stylised as ''4hero'' on their albums and ...

), Kaidi Tatham (

Bugz In The Attic Bugz in the Attic is a collective of DJs and producers based in West London, who are prominent in broken beat. The collective includes Orin Walters (Afronaught), Paul Dolby (Seiji), Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi (Neon Phusion), Cliff Sc ...

), soul legend

Omar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...

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(

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

, Maxwell, Sweetback). She then became heavily involved as a keyboardist in remix collaborations for

Jazzanova Alexander Barck, Zelt Musik Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany Jazzanova is a German Berlin-based DJ/producer collective consisting of Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, and Axel Reine ...

Scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

Vikter Duplaix Vikter Duplaix (born October 14, 1969), is an American singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ. Duplaix has traditional soul singer's beginnings – being raised in both Philadelphia and Augusta, Georgia singing in church ch ...

, Steven Spacek, All Saints, Appleton: "Don't Worry", Rosey (Def Jam),

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Pol ...

, Larry Gold. After touring Japan (blue note), and Europe, in New York, she appeared as an instrumentalist on various soundtrack recordings for film. Her third album ''TO.NY'' was released in June, 2008 with the singles "Whateva U Want" and "Been Thru This" which reached #91 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

. Santilli signed to

CP Records CP Music Group is a collaborative music label and management team for a roster of artists, songwriters and producers. It co-founded in 2002 as Capital Prophets Records by Lebanese-Canadian entrepreneur Wassim "SAL" Slaiby and Palestinian-Canadian ...

and released her fourth studio album, ''Santilli'' in June, 2010. The first single is "Your Girl Tonight" and the second single is "Letting Go". Three of the songs on ''Santilli'' are new compositions & recordings, 3 are remixes, while the remaining 6 were remastered from ''TO.NY''. An amalgamation of song collaborations with

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh ( ar, نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocalis ...

Adam Messinger Adam "Messy" Messinger is a Grammy Award-winning Canadians, Canadian songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Los Angeles, California. He is a producer for Canadian reggae band Magic!, but was initially a producer/ ...

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cent ...

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, Ethan White Ivana's 5th studio album entitled '' Late Night Light'' was pre-released on February 13, 2015 and released digitally worldwide on March 10, 2015. It features collaborations with

Mike Lindup Michael David Lindup (born 17 March 1959) is a musician best known as the keyboard player and falsetto voiced singer, who joined with Mark King and brothers Phil and Boon Gould to form the British jazz-funk/pop rock band, Level 42. Early li ...

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. Santilli began doing Voice Over work in 2015 and has done commercials for

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

Marshall's Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. Mar ...

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. Currently she is composing for film. The most recent film score for an indie short art film is set was released in fall of 2021.

Discography

Albums

* April 1999: ''Brown'' (Brown Recordings) * August 2004: ''Corduroy Boogie'' (Brown Recordings) * June 2008: ''TO.NY'' (Brown Recordings
review
* June 2010: ''Santilli'' (CP Records) * March 2015: ''Late Night Light'' (Brown Recordings)

Singles

References

External links

Official website

CTV eTalk interview

Ivana Santilli at Jam!/Canoe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santilli, Ivana Canadian contemporary R&B singers Canadian people of Italian descent Franco-Ontarian people Living people Musicians from Toronto Santilli, Ivana 1975 births 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers