Award-winning vocalist
Janiva Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers
in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty
and beauty born from her life experience. A charismatic performer
known for her electrifying live shows, Magness is a gutsy and
dynamic musical powerhouse.
She received the coveted 2009 "Blues
Music Awards" for B.B.
King Entertainer Of The Year (she is only the
second woman to ever win this award, Koko Taylor being
the first) and for "Contemporary
Blues Female Artist Of The Year", an
honor she also received in 2006 and 2007. She has received
eleven previous Blues
Music Award nominations. USA
Today declared, “Magness
is a blues star,” and The
Philadelphia Inquirer said, “Magness
sings superb, potent soul-blues with a scorching intensity.”
Magness released a series of independent albums,
including two on the Northern
Blues label, prior to her extraordinary 2008 Alligator
Records debut, What
Love Will Do. Her new CD, The
Devil Is An Angel Too, co-produced by Magness
and Dave Darling (Brian Setzer, Meredith Brooks, Dan Hicks), is a hard-hitting
collection of material that explores the depths of good and evil, with Magness’ glorious,
soul-baring vocals burning their way through twelve powerful songs.
“All
of us have a light and a dark side. Human beings are capable of the most
incredible acts of kindness and absolute wretchedness. This record explores
both sides,” Magness explains.
She wraps her huge, soulful voice
around original material written especially for her, and songs from Julie
Miller, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Joe Tex, Gladys Knight, Nina Simone, Ann
Peebles and James Carr. From the haunting, seductive title track that explores
evil masquerading as good to the spiritual awakening of “Walkin’ In
The Sun” to the revenge tale of “I’m
Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” and the joyful proclamation of “I
Want To Do Everything For You,” Magness
cuts to the heart and soul of each song with grit, heart and fierce passion,
making The
Devil Is An Angel Too her most compelling release
yet.
Although Magness is now a bona fide blues
star, her rise to the top was far from easy.
Born in Detroit, Magness was inspired
by the blues and country she heard listening to her father’s record collection, and by the
vibrant music of the city’s classic Motown sound. By her teenage
years, though, her life was in chaos. She lost both parents to suicide
by the age of 16 and lived on the streets, bouncing from one foster home
to another. At 17, she became a teenage mother who gave up her baby daughter
for adoption.
One night in Minneapolis, an underage Magness sneaked into
a club to see blues great Otis Rush, and it was there that she found her
salvation and decided that the blues were her calling. Magness recalls, “Otis
played as if his life depended on it. There was a completely desperate,
absolute intensity. I knew, whatever it was, I needed more of it.” She
began going to as many blues shows as possible, soaking up the sounds of
her favorite artists, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins. She
immersed herself in records by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Etta James,
and all the other R&B greats.
Listening to these blues and soul artists,
and watching them live, sparked Janiva and gave her life direction. Her first
break came several years later, while working as an intern at a recording studio.
She was approached by her boss to sing some supporting vocals on a track. Finding
her voice, she soon began working regularly as a background singer.
By the early
1980s, Magness made her way to Phoenix and befriended Bob
Tate, the musical director
for the great Sam Cooke. With Tate’s mentoring, she formed her first band,
Janiva Magness And The Mojomatics, in 1985 and before long the influential Phoenix
New Times named her group the city’s Best Blues Band.
She moved
to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly began finding work. She married musician
and songwriter Jeff Turmes, with whom she recorded her second studio album, It
Takes One To Know One, in 1997 (her debut
was the cassette-only release, More Than Live).
After three more independent releases, Janiva signed with Northern
Blues and
recorded Bury Him
At The Crossroads in 2004 and Do
I Move You? in
2006. Both CDs were co-produced by Magness along with Canadian roots star Colin
Linden, and both garnered Magness a tremendous amount of critical and popular
attention. Magness and Linden won the prestigious Canadian
Maple Blues Award
for "Producers Of The Year" for Bury
Him At The Crossroads in
2004. Do I Move You? debuted
at #8 on the Billboard Blues Chart and was the #1 "Blues
CD Of The Year" in
2006 on Living Blues magazine’s
radio chart. Blues Revue said, “Magness is a bold and potent
artist with a powerful, soulful voice… impossible to forget.”
Magness signed with Alligator in 2008 and released her stunning label debut, What
Love Will Do, to massive critical
acclaim.
The Chicago
Sun-Times raved, “Her songs run the gamut of emotions
from sorrow to joy. A master of the lowdown blues who is equally at ease
surrounded by funk or soul sounds, Magness invigorates every song with
a brutal honesty,” while Blues Revue called
her “a
blues interpreter of the highest rank…punchy and tough… swaggering,
incendiary vocal performances.” Allmusic declared, “rollicking
blues, swampy soul and R&B… stark, gritty, emotional material…terrifi
c, magnifi cent voice. She rips into ballads with moving and riveting
tenacity…she burns through these songs like she’s got everything
to prove.” Fueled by all the positive press, Magness was profiled
on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, putting
her in front of an audience of millions and expanding her ever-growing
fan base.
In addition to her musical accomplishments,
Magness is reaching out to help others. She is a National Spokesperson for Casey
Family Programs (her fourth consecutive year), promoting National Foster Care
Month.
“It
is a huge honor and a daunting responsibility. But I am very excited
to be a part of it, and I look forward to carrying the message of hope
for youth in the foster care system,” says Magness. “Casey
Family Programs does groundbreaking work, and I am deeply honored to
work with them again.” Magness has also reconnected with
her daughter, and is now the proud grandmother of an eight-year-old
boy. “Our fate doesn’t have to be our destiny,” she
says. “I’m living proof of that. And I’m so very
grateful.”
Magness is also incredibly grateful for her
Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year. “Winning Entertainer
Of The Year is overwhelming to me,” she says. “Being
the only woman besides Koko Taylor to win this award is just staggering.
I adored and worshipped Koko for so long that it’s really hard
for me to wrap myself around it, but I couldn’t be prouder
of that award. It’s very humbling, because I still can’t
believe that people fi nd me worthy to stand in her company.”
Janiva Magness’ deeply emotional
music, sung with passion, conviction and soul, and her telepathic ability to
connect with an audience, assures her place among the blues elite. “We
need real music now more than ever because it gives us strength
to pull through tough times,” says Magness. “We
need it in a real bad way. Blues is a ray of hope. It articulates
what’s lacking in people’s lives.”
With The
Devil Is An Angel Too and her
explosive live shows hitting cities across North America and Europe,
Janiva Magness continues to spread her empowering message of hope
through music.
Talking about her
Seeing Janiva Magness live for the first time was exhilarating
and refreshing.
Bettye LaVette
Magness is a blues
star. Stunningly sung. USA
Today
Sista Janiva's robust and soulful voice is showering each
cut with determination to make us all fall in love. Her
delivery is as always, sincere and straight from the heart.
Sweet Soul Music is alive and kickin'.
Mavis Staples
Superb, potent soul-blues. Magness sings with a scorching
intensity. Gritty and roadhouse-ready. -
Philadelphia Inquirer
