Nikki Yanofsky

Nikki Yanofsky was born in Montreal (February 8, 1994) with an extraordinary gift… a magical voice. Singing since she could speak, she began her career by performing in front of small audiences in Stowe, Vermont. As her passion for music grew, so did her voice. By age eleven, she was ready for the next step… and the timing was impeccable. She performed two songs at the annual Maimonides Battle of the Bands fundraiser at Club Soda with her father’s band, the Past Their Prime-Time Players. Nikki captivated the spectators with her powerful voice and velvety tone. The audience that night included a few people from the Montréal music scene, and, as a result, Nikki was invited to perform at a Porn Flakes jam-night event in February, alongside a lineup of prominent Quebec artists. Once again, Nikki hit the mark! Two songs were enough to get this “in-crowd” howling and screaming. Montreal Jazz Festival’s André Ménard invited Nikki, on the spot, to headline at this year’s edition… and television personality Éric Salvail, who also performed that fabled night at Club Soda, seized the opportunity to host Nikki’s television debut on his top-rated TVA network show, On a pas toute la soirée. You guessed it… another sizzling success, paving the way for other television appearances on Global, TVA, CBC and CTV, and feature articles in virtually every local newspaper. June 29, 2006… Nikki headlines the Alcan stage at the Montreal International Jazz Festival… two one-hour shows… fifteen songs per set… Nikki is belting out Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder melodies, scatting Ella Fitzgerald standards, and performing “her” unique versions of other jazz, soul and blues classics. The large, responsive audience (100,000+ for both shows), empowered Nikki. The long series of intense rehearsals with a stellar group of professional musicians and vocalists pays off… Nikki Yanofsky gives the performance of her life… and Nikki Yanofsky has the time of her life! This past year has been remarkable… numerous television and radio appearances, including a CBC National News documentary, magazine and newspaper profiles, a performance with jazz legend Oliver Jones and singing the American and Canadian national anthems for a Canadien’s game at Montreal’s Bell Centre. She also wowed the who’s who of the Canadian music industry at the 2007 Canadian Music Industry Awards Gala, which this year celebrated the induction of Grammy Award winner David Foster, among others. More recently, Nikki recorded Ella Fitzgerald's timeless masterpiece Airmail Special for the Verve Records album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song. The track was produced by the legendary Tommy LiPuma (who has worked with Barbra Streisand, George Benson, Miles Davis, to name a few). This marks Nikki's recording debut… the youngest artist on an album which features Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, Queen Latifah, Gladys Knight, k.d. lang, Michael Buble, Etta James, Linda Ronstadt and others. The music industry is buzzing, to say the least. There is already intense international interest. Her calendar is filling up rapidly and more great things are on the horizon. We all look forward to watching Nikki’s growth, both as a burgeoning talent, and as a young woman with a radiating, warm and infectious personality. Oliver Jones summed it all up after his first rehearsal with Nikki… “Jazz is alive in Canada!”