Nao (singer)

Nao

Nao press shot from "So Good" EP
Background information
Birth name Neo Jessica Joshua
Born December 1987 (age 28)[1]
Nottingham, England
Genres
Years active 2014–present
Labels Little Tokyo Recordings

Neo Jessica Joshua, better known as Nao (also styled NAO; /ˈneɪ.oʊ/), is a British singer-songwriter from East London.[2][3] Her sound has been described as neo soul combined with electronic music and alternative R&B.[2]

Music career

Neo Joshua was born in Nottingham but moved to East London as a young child. She studied vocal jazz at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and went on to be a backing singer for artists such as Kwabs and Jarvis Cocker.[2][4] For six years up to 2014 she sang in an all-girl a cappella group called The Boxettes.[5][6] In October 2014 she released her first EP, So Good, it reached number 4 on the iTunes electronic chart and the title track made the BBC Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra national playlists in the United Kingdom.[2][3][7] This was followed by a second EP, February 15 (II MMXV), in May 2015,[7] receiving the "Best New Music" tag from Pitchfork Media.

Nao played Glastonbury Festival in June 2015.[4] In September 2015 Nao was named as a nominee for best newcomer at the 2015 MOBO Awards.[8] Nao was a featured vocalist and writer on Disclosure's UK number 1 album, Caracal, on the track "Superego".[9] She was featured in the long list for the BBC Sound of...2016 prize in November 2015, ultimately being named in third place in January 2016.[10]

Discography

Singles

Title Year Album
"So Good" 2014 So Good (EP)
"Zillionaire" February 15 (EP)
"Bad Blood"[11] 2015 TBA
"Fool to Love" 2016

Guest appearances

Title Year Artist(s) Album
"Firefly"[12] 2015 Mura Masa Someday Somewhere
"Superego"[13] Disclosure Caracal

Awards and nominations

Year Organization Category Nominee Result
2016 BBC Sound of 2016[10] NAO Third

References

  1. ↑ "Little Tokyo Recordings Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "BBC Music Sound of...2016 - NAO". BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 "NAO on itunes". Apple iTunes. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Glastonbury 2015". BBC Music. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "The Boxettes, Kings Place". The Arts Desk. 13 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "This All-Female Beatbox Group’s Awesome Rudimental Cover Is Anything But Basic". Huffignton Post. 15 August 2014.
  7. 1 2 "New band of the week: Nao". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Grime and hip-hop artists JME and Krept And Konan dominate Mobo nominations". BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  9. ↑ "Caracal by Disclosure". Metacritic. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  10. 1 2 "BBC Music Sound of 2016 longlist - listen to the nominees". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Bad Blood - Single by NAO". iTunes (UK). Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Someday Somewhere by Mura Masa". iTunes (UK). Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  13. ↑ "Caracal by Disclosure". iTunes (US). Retrieved 10 January 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.