India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975) is a Grammy Award-winning American neo soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is professionally known as Indie Arie or India.Arie.
Biography
India.Arie was born in Denver, Colorado. She absorbed musical skill early in life, encouraged by both parents: her mother, Joyce, herself a former singer, and now India Arie’s stylist; and her father, basketball star Ralph Simpson. She had taken up a succession of musical instruments throughout her schooling in Denver, Colorado, but her interest in the guitar while attending the Savannah College of Art and Design led to a personal revelation about songwriting and performing. “When I started tapping into my own sensitivity, I started to understand people better. It was a direct result of writing songs,” she said at the press release of her debut album, Acoustic Soul.
Co-founding an Atlanta-based independent music collective, her one-song turn on a locally released compilation led to a second-stage gig at the Lilith Fair, where a Universal/Motown music scout spotted her and made an introduction to Motown CEO Kedar Massenburg. Sidestepping all the devices of flavor-of-the-month record-making, Acoustic Soul acquainted listeners with a brave and eloquent new voice, drawing an uncommonly broad swath of listeners from hip-hop, neo-soul, blues, folk, and classic troubadour-style singer/songwriting, all at once. The album, released in 2001, debuted at number ten on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart and number three on the R&B album chart. Within months, without the concentrated radio play that typically powers pop and rap albums, Acoustic Soul was certified double-platinum.
India Arie followed the success of her debut in 2002 with the release of Voyage to India. Debuting at number six on the Billboard 200 and number one on the R&B chart, the album eventually earned a Grammy for Best R&B Album. One of the singles from the record, “Little Things”, also won a Grammy the same year for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Soon after its release, Voyage to India was certified gold.
India Arie’s third studio album, Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, was released on June 27, 2006. The project was originally planned to be a double album, with the second disk covering love and politics, but it was later stated that love and politics would be covered in her next album. Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship gave India.Arie her first number-one on the Billboard 200 and was her second chart-topper on the U.S. R&B album chart Its first week sales of 161,000 copies is Arie’s best sales week to date.
On the September 2005 premiere of The Tyra Banks Show, Arie performed “Just 4 2day”. She wrote this song especially for Tyra’s show. Arie also wrote “What About the Child”, a song that did not air but was made available as a $1 internet download to support child victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
India.Arie also features on Stevie Wonder’s album A Time To Love which was released on October 18, 2005. India.Arie and Stevie Wonder duet on the title track “A Time To Love”, which was nominated in the 2006 forty-eighth Grammy Awards, for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration with Vocals.
Source: India.Arie. (2006, July 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:25, July 9, 2006.
