India.Arie

Singer-songwriter and guitarist India.Arie learned the transforming power of music early in life, encouraged by both parents. Her mother, Simpson, is herself a former singer, and now India's stylist who sometimes comes onstage to duet with her daughter. Her father is former Denver Nuggets basketball star Ralph Simpson.

She had taken up several musical instruments throughout her schooling in Denver, Colorado, but her discovery of the guitar at college in Savannah, Georgia, 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 when she released her first album.

India co-founded an Atlanta-based independent music collective, and her single song on a locally released compilation led her to a gig at Lilith Fair, where a Universal / Motown music scout spotted her. Her first release, Acoustic Soul drew from hip-hop, neo-soul, blues and folk music, all at once. The album debuted at Number 10 on the Billboard national album chart upon its release in March of 2001. Within six weeks, it was certified as a gold record for sales of over a half-million.

By the end of 2001, the album had passed the million unit mark, and she was named Best New Artist by Vibe Magazine, MTV2 and Billboard's Video Awards. India also drew nominations from the NAACP Image Awards and Soul Train's Lady of Soul Awards. Entertainment Weekly magazine listed India among the Top 100 "It" Entertainers of 2001. In 2002, she an Essence Award for "writing the anthem for Black womanhood, for celebrating our strength, courage and wisdom, and illuminating our beauty -- naturally."

At the 2002 Grammy Awards in 2002, India astonished the record industry by drawing nominations in seven categories, including Best New Artist; and Record, Song and Album of the year. This was the most of any solo artist in history. Although she took home no awards Grammy night, she turned in a buoyant performance of "Video" to close the performances of the nominees.

India's creative fire remains bright with the release of her sophomore album, Voyage to India, which was nominated for four Grammys. "Writing songs teaches me," she says. "It's like I hear words I could not make up in my own head -- they're way more wise than I am! When I hear it in the completed song, I say, 'Wow, that's a message for me.' That's the thing that excites me, listening to this album and seeing how my life is going to manifest itself into even more of what these songs are."

The music of India.Arie expresses an unshakable and much-needed faith in the ways that love and life can lead us to our best selves. She told a New York Times reporter, "I want my album to be something that fills up a space with good love energy. Or fills up a person that way -- where they say, 'Every time I listen to that album, I feel good.' I want that. That's my wish."