Nnenna Freelon
Biography:
Six-time GRAMMY® Award nominee Nnenna Freelon has earned a well-deserved reputation as a compelling and captivating live performer. In 2014, Nnenna starred in the critically acclaimed show “Georgia on My Mind: Celebrating the Music of Ray Charles” in Las Vegas. Nnenna is no stranger to the music of the master singer - she toured with Ray Charles, as well as many other greatest jazz artists including Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, George Benson, and others.
Honors and awards are nothing new for Nnenna. Freelon is a winner of both the Billie Holiday Award from the prestigious Academie du Jazz and the Eubie Blake Award from the Cultural Crossroads Center in New York City. She was nominated twice as “Lady of Soul” by the Soul Train Awards.
Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Freelon received her undergraduate degree from Simmons College in Boston. Her parents and singing in the church gave the singer her first exposure to the arts – especially to the art of jazz. Ultimately she pursued a career in jazz in which she has excelled. All the while, Freelon has cherished and held dear her two most important lifetime roles –wife and mother. Her husband Phil Freelon is an award-winning architect based in North Carolina whose most recent work as the lead architect of The Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of African American Culture and History has received worldwide praise. As the mother of three, Freelon has led by example – follow your dreams, dedicate yourself, and work hard in all you do.