When the winner for best new artist was announced at the 2011 Grammy awards, Twitter erupted with cries of outrage. Various factions weighed in on who they thought should have gotten the award, among the losers was a who’s who this year, Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & The Machine, and Mumford and Sons. Drake and Bieber were thought to be the forerunners in the nominations. But the voting committee shocked the world and went with a beautiful, talented, 20 something named Esperanza Spalding.
Esperanza Spalding Wins Best New Artist At 2011 Grammys
Esperanza is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ma. She is a an American multi-instrumentalist best known as a jazz singer and bassist. While I’m just acquainting myself with her music, I can clearly see how the young jazz bassist and singer won over her peers. Her facility with the bass is only bested by her soulful voice.
“Berklee College of Music was the place where the pieces all came together and doors started opening. After a move to the opposite coast and three years of accelerated study, she not only earned a B.M., but also signed on as an instructor in 2005 at the age of 20 – an appointment that has made her the youngest faculty member in the history of the college. She was the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship.”-Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza gracefully accepted her award, “I certainly did not expect to even be considered for that type of nomination,” she said. “Me being a little old jazz musician and everything.”
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