Stephanie McKay is an American soul singer and songwriter from the Bronx in New York, whose music includes elements of soul, funk, rock and hip hop. McKay's career has spanned over 20 years, during which time she has collaborated with artists including Anthony Hamilton,

DJ Spinna Vincent E. Williamsbetter known by his stage name DJ Spinna, is an American hip hop and deep house producer from Brooklyn. According to Allmusic, he has "remained strictly an underground artist despite his astonishing talent." Life and career Spi ...

Toshi Reagon Toshi Reagon (born January 27, 1964) is an American musician of folk, blues, gospel, rock and funk, as well as a composer, curator, and producer. Early life Born January 27, 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia, Reagon grew up in Washington, D.C. She wa ...

and Big lovely, Roy Hargrove,

Jacques Schwarz-Bart Jacques Schwarz-Bart (born 22 December 1962 in Les Abymes) is a French jazz saxophonist. Biography His mother is the Guadeloupean novelist Simone Schwarz-Bart, author of ''The Bridge of Beyond''. His father was French-Jewish author André Schwar ...

, Katalyst,

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

, Tricky,

Carl Hancock Rux Carl Hancock Rux () is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, journalist, curator and conceptual installation artist working in text, dance, ritualized performance, audio, video, and photography. Described in the NY T ...

and

Amp Fiddler Joseph Anthony "Amp" Fiddler is an American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the ba ...

and numerous others. She has released two solo albums, McKay (2003) and Tell it Like it Is (2008), a self-titled EP Stephanie McKay (2006) and has toured internationally as a solo artist. She formerly played guitar in

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perform ...

' band and recorded with the Brooklyn Funk Essentials.

Early life

Stephanie McKay was born in New York City and raised in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. During her early years, she was a member of school choirs and music groups at Truman High School, before joining the

Alvin Ailey School Alvin may refer to: Places Canada * Alvin, British Columbia United States * Alvin, Colorado *Alvin, Georgia * Alvin, Illinois * Alvin, Michigan * Alvin, Texas *Alvin, Wisconsin, a town * Alvin (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community O ...

. McKay then moved onto the University of the Arts in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

where she graduated with a BFA in modern dance in 1993.

Early music career

After a knee injury detoured her dance aspirations, McKay started to audition for singing jobs. One of those auditions was for producer

Kashif Kashif (also spelled Kaashif, Kaşif, Khasif or Kashef, ar, کاشف) is an Arabic word, commonly used as a male given name in the Muslim world. Its meaning is close to the "revealer", "discoverer", "uncoverer" or "pioneer", "explorer". When use ...

who hired her on the spot for a new girl group called "The Promise". The group went on to be signed by Clive Davis at

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. It was during this period that McKay began writing songs. She also began to study singing under Don Lawrence and drums under

Kenwood Dennard Kenwood Marshall Dennard (born March 1, 1956, New York City) is an American jazz drummer. Dennard learned piano as a child and took up drumming at nine years of age. He attended the Manhattan School of Music from 1972 to 1973 and Berklee College o ...

Solo career

While pursuing her professional music aspirations in New York, McKay continued to dance with several modern dance companies, including Jane Comfort, Amy Pivar, Urban Bush woman, as well as sing her original music in New York City clubs. She also began to gain more work as a

session vocalist Session may refer to: Bureaucracy and law *Session (parliamentary procedure) * Session (Presbyterian), a governing body in Presbyterian polity * Court of Session, the supreme civil court of Scotland *Executive session, a portion of the United St ...

for various artists, including

. While on tour with

in England, Stephanie met

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak and supergroup Quakers, and has scored several films. Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the s ...

through Rux.

First Album: ''McKay''

McKay and Barrow collaborated on the album ''McKay'', which included original compositions by Stephanie, along with producers Tim Saul and Geoff Barrow. Barrow is credited in the album's sleeve notes as "Fuzzface". The album also features two songs co-penned by Barrow and Rux and additional instrumentation by other notable, Bristol-based musicians in

Adrian Utley Adrian Francis Utley (born 27 April 1957) is an English musician and producer, and a member of the band Portishead.Jurek, ThomAdrian Utley Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2016 Career Born in Northampton,Mejia, Paula (2015)In Search ...

and John Baggott. The LP also contains the closing track "Echo", a

Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-women band, all-woman, African American, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an United States, American three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song ...

cover version, penned by the acclaimed social activist,

Bernice Johnson Reagon Bernice Johnson Reagon (born Bernice Johnson on October 4, 1942) is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in t ...

. The album received critical acclaim, with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' saying it was "resurrecting the passion and pride of politically conscious and eternally lovelorn ladies of late-1960s, early 1970s soul, McKay shines bright."

MOJO Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

described McKay as "extraordinarily eclectic" and her album as "a coherent artistic statement" and "worth investigating." McKay went on to play at the

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...

, Bristol and the

Jazz Cafe The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, ...

in England and her music received international acclaim and rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The album ''McKay'' was released in Europe on (Go Beat/Polydor/Universal). Stephanie was soon signed by American company Astralwerks . In an attempt to introduce McKay to the American market, the label released a five song EP in September 2006 with two new songs from forthcoming album, two older songs from ''McKay,'' and a remix by

of "Tell It Like It Is", as well as being featured on US funk musician

's album release ''Afro Strut''.

Second Album: ''Tell It Like It Is''

McKay's second album ''Tell It Like It Is'' was later released independently on Pias/Muthas of Invention. McKay went on to play at the

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 ...

in 2009, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Spoleto in France.

Additional Works

After the death of her mom in 2008 and the birth of her son in 2009, Mckay took a hiatus and concentrated on motherhood instead of touring. She continued to release singles with longtime collaborator DJ Katalyst from Australia with the single "Day into Night" and "You can't save me". In January 2013, she sang with Jimmy Cliff on The Super Bowl 2013 Volkswagen commercial "Get Happy".

Collaboration with Jacques Schwarz-Bart

She is married to jazz tenor saxophonist

. The couple have collaborated musically with the album ''Rise above'' (Dreyfus) an album released by her husband which contained the single "Feel so free". The album's song " Forget regret" has been covered by Roy Hargrove. "Friend and lover" a composition McKay and Schwarz-Bart wrote together for jazz guitarist Yosuke Onuma (Sony) Japan was also recorded by EMILY (jazz pianist and singer) and TOKU (trumpeter and singer) for Sony.

Music

McKay's musical style has been described as "

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

meets midnight Marauder". Her songs fuse powerful urban poetics with sonic sound waves that includes elements of hip-hop, rock, pop,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

. McKay says her music is influenced by her childhood in New York and the classic soul singers of the sixties and inventiveness of popular soul bands from the seventies.

"''I have a brother who is eight years older than me, who was always playing 70's soul and funk music like
Earth, Wind And Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...
and the
Ohio Players Ohio Players is an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire (Ohio Players song), Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of t ...
, while my mom was in the other room listening to Al Green and
Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...
. On my own though, I was a fan of the classic pop station WABC, where I first discovered artists like
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
and
Jim Croce James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to p ...
.''"

Albums

*McKay (2003) *Stephanie McKay EP (2006) *Tell It Like It Is (2008)

Singles/EPs

*Tell him *Take me Over *Tell it like it is *Stephanie McKay EP (2006) *Jackson Avenue (2008) *Song in my Heart (2018) *Phenonmenon (2022)

References

External links

* * https://www.facebook.com/stephaniemckaymusic * https://www.twitter.com/stephaniemckay * https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-mckay
MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Stephanie African-American women singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American neo soul singers Singers from New York City Actresses from New York City Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American film actresses African-American actresses Entertainers from the Bronx Brooklyn Funk Essentials members 21st-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Musicians from the Bronx