Esperanza Spalding

Spalding's father is African American and her mother is of Welsh, Native American, and Hispanic descent. She has always had an interest in the music of other cultures, including that of Brazil commenting: "With Portuguese songs, the phrasing of the melody is intrinsically linked with the language, and it's beautiful." She has cited jazz bassists Ron Carter and Dave Holland as important influences on her music along with her true love for fusion music and was influenced by a "wonderful arc that started 40 years ago where people kept incorporating modern sounds into their music". Despite an obvious passion for music, her beginnings were not exactly easy, in fact at one point she was so broke and exhausted she considered leaving music and entering political science, a move jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny discouraged, telling Spalding she had "the 'X Factor'" and could make it if she applied herself.

She gained some brilliant exposure and publicity from the likes of The New York Times who commented that her voice was "light and high, up in Blossom Dearie's pitch range, and [that] she can sing quietly, almost in a daydream" and that Spalding "invents her own feminine space, a different sound from top to bottom." After her graduation, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution's history.

Her first two albums failed to make impact on the US charts but were praised for the dynamic jazz Spalding exhibited. In November 2011, Spalding won "Jazz Artist of the Year" at the Boston Music Awards and Grammy Award for Best New Artist beating favourite indie rock band Florence + the Machine. After this success her album 'Chamber Music Society' re-entered the Billboard chart at #34 and topped the US Jazz charts, a huge gain on her previous release. It was the highest selling contemporary jazz album of the year. The following album 'Radio Music Society' cracked the US top 10 and once again topped the Jazz charts.