Samara Joy McLendon, who is better known by her professional name Samara Joy is a popular American jazz singer.
Samara had been making headlines recently for her achievement at the 65th edition of the prestigious Grammy Awards, Samara won the award for the best new artist category where she competed alongside artists like Anitta, Omar Apollo, Wet Leg, Molly Tuttle, and a few more artists.
Keeping up with the tradition, the ward for the best new artist was announced by the winner of last year Olivia Rodrigo. She also won the awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the awards.
Samara seemed so happy and truly speechless as she accepted her award. In her acceptance speech, Samara thanked everyone for the honor and she was so excited to meet some of the most popular artists in the field whom she referred to as “have been watching y’all on TV for so long.”
Samara thanked all the artists present at the ceremony for inspiring her and helping her in taking her career forward.
The 23-year-old jazz singer also won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal competition in 2019 and in 2021, Samara was named the Best New Artist by Jazz Times. Here is everything else you need to know about the rising superstar.
Samara Joy – Early Life
Samara Joy was born on November 11, 1999. Within the very young age of 23 years, Samara was able to build a notice value and successful career in music, with her major focus in Jazz music. Samara is a native of the Bronx, New York USA.
She was born and brought up there by her family. Due to a few reasons, the complete details about her family are not available to public sources but available reports suggest that Samara was born into a musical family. Her family used to stay in the Bronx’s Castle Hill neighborhood.
Samara is the granddaughter of Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, who were the founders of ‘The Savettes’ which is a gospel group based in Philadelphia. As for her father, he was someone who was closely associated with music.
He used to travel with Andre Crouch, who was a popular gospel singer/songwriter and producer. Samara’s father used to be a bass player. Apart from this information, nothing much about her family or parents is available as of now. We hope to update you with the latest details as soon as it is available.
Being born into a musical family, Samara expressed passion and affinity towards music from a very young age. For her education, Samara attended the Fordham High School for Arts.
Samara expressed her interest in jazz when she was just a student there. She was so interested and talented at jazz, she was also a member of the school’s jazz band. After graduating from high school, Joy enrolled at Fordham University.
While a student at the University, Samara entered the Essential Ellington competition. It is an annual high school jazz festival and competition conducted at Lincoln Center in New York City with an aim to elevate musicianship and inspire performance.
Samara was able to win the competition, once again proving her talent in jazz music.
Samara Joy – Professional Career
Even though she was interested and clearly talented in jazz, Samara began to look at jazz in a more meaningful way after enrolling in the jazz program offered by SUNY’s Purchase College. Samara was an exceptional jazz singer and she was even named an Ella Fitzgerald scholar.
During her time at Purchase College, Samara got introduced to some of the most eminent personalities in the field of jazz music like Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, and instrumentalists like Kenny Washington, Ingrid Jensen, and Jon Faddis.
Samara was praised by many for her talent and outstanding performance in jazz like actress Regina King who described her as “a young woman who seems like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are both living in her body.”
After enrolling at the College, Samara grew so much as an artist. She graduated college in 2021. One of her biggest achievements came in 2019 when she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz vocal competition. It was a reassurance that she was on the correct path and had made a wise decision in choosing jazz.
Samara was able to release her self-titled debut album, while she was just a student.
In 2021, even though she had released only a single album, Samara toured different countries in Europe like Italy and Austria, and also the United States later. She also performed at some of the most prestigious and popular jazz music festivals.
With the growing popularity of jazz, the Jazz Times named Samara as the Best New Artist for 2021.
Eventually, on September 16, 2022, Samara released her second album titled ‘Linger Awhile.’ The album featured some of the best jazz instrumentalists like Kenny Washington, Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, and David Wong.
It was the same album that earned her two Grammy awards as the 65th edition under the categories Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Samara Joy – Net Worth
Samara Joy is definitely a promising artist and is destined to reach new heights both for and in Jazz music. She was able to build a name for herself in the music field within a very short span of time and cemented her position with her latest achievement of Grammys.
According to the available sources, Samara is estimated to have a net worth of almost $4 million – $6 million. The major source of her income is, without a doubt, her music career.
She has released two albums in her short career and both those albums were huge hits among her audience. With the history of two hit albums, Samara has also conducted different live events and tours and most of those events were reported to be house full.
Another major source of Samara’s income can be attributed to her strong social media presence. As she was a popular star, she has a huge fan following on almost every social media platform. As of now, she has a follower count of 152k on Instagram and 212.9k on Tik Tok.
In light of the recent events and success that she had at the Grammys, the number will definitely see a hike in the following days. There are different reports available online that claim that Samara has a monthly income of $80K – $85K.
Also Read:- What Is EGOT And How Did Viola Davis Achieve It At The Grammys?
Samara Joy – Personal Life And Relationships
Even though she is a very popular figure, Samara takes extra precautions to keep her private life out of the public eye. Taking the available information into consideration, she is currently not involved in any kind of relationship and is thought to be single.
Not only about any present relationships, but there is no clear indication of any past relationship of Samara available as of now. It seems that she is just devoted to building her career as of now.
But keep following us to know any new updates regarding her relationship status as we will update you as soon as any information is available.
Samara Joy – Awards And Honors
Samara was deeply passionate about jazz music right from her school days. Her love for music increased during her time in college.
Samara started her streak of achievements at a younger age. She was able to win the Essentially Ellington competition while being a student at Fordham High School for the Arts.
She also won the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal competition in 2019. In 2021, Jazz Times named her the Best New Artist.
Samara kicked off 2023 by winning two Grammy awards in Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album categories for her second album ‘Linger Awhile.’ Along with all these awards and accolades, she has also performed sold-out concerts in countries like Italy, Austria, and also the United States.
Read More:- Grammy Awards 2023: Complete List Of Winners; Live Updates & Highlights
