ALICIA OLATUJA

When St.Louis native vocalist, composer, educator Alicia Olatuja sings, the world listens. Her aural artistry is a wondrous weave of jazz, blues, gospel, classical, pop and Afropop musical genres. Olatuja’s embrace of those sonic stylings have enabled her to work with a wide variety of musicians - from jazz superstars Chris Botti, Christian McBride and Michael Olatuja, to R&B and gospel legends Chaka Khan. And BeBe Winans - and it also enables her to be a comprehensive and compelling artist in her own right. “I see myself as a prism,” Olatuja says, “just as light goes into a prism and then scatters in different colors, that’s pretty much what I've always focused on being able to do as an artist, regardless of what genre I’m singing.” Olatuja grew up immersed in a kaleidoscope of musical influences in St. Louis. Inspired by Whitney Houston, Olatuja started singing at the age of 5. She sang in the Berean Seven Day Adventist Church, listened to a wide variety of Black music including jazz, R&B and soul and was classically trained as an opera mezzo-soprano singer. After double majoring in Veterinary Medicine and Music at the University of Missouri, Olatuja moved to New York City in 2005, and later earned her Masters degree in Classical Voice/Opera from the Manhattan School of Music. She made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall and her professional debut as Sacagawea at Opera Memphis It was at the Manhattan School of Music where she met African jazz/Afrobeat bassist Michael Olatuja. “I started working with him and some other musicians as well,” Olatuja says, “We got married in 2007, and we decided to merge our visions, as far as working together and creating music that we felt would impact people in a positive way.” She recorded on his 2009 debut recording Speak, and they collaborated as The Olatuja Project on their 2013 release, The Promise. “In 2015 we decided to go our separate ways,” Olatuja recalls, “but we always respected and loved each other, and we always believed that we were supposed to be in each other's lives. We stayed in touch for several years… He started working on Broadway, and I started my solo career.” In 2013 Olatuja sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Obama’s Second Inauguration. The New York Daily News praised her as “a new musical star,” and the award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves also took notice of her performance.”I think about her as like a fairy godmother of the industry because she really championed for me,” Olatuja fondly remembers. “She saw that performance and we met. She recommended me to other musicians and artists, and that led to touring and all kinds of things.” Reeves recommended Olatuja to her friend, pianist-composer Billy Childs. In 2014, he released Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, which also featured Reeves. Olatuja sang with Child’s touring ensemble performing music from that recording. Olatuja would go on to work with many other artists. She recorded on bassist Christian McBrides’ recording, The Movement Revisited: A Portrait of Four Icons. Olatuja has also worked with gospel singer Bebe Winans, R&B legend Chaka Khan, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, trumpeter Chris Botti, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. on his Songs of Freedom, a Jazz at Lincoln Center commissioned project, which featured the music of Abbey Lincoln, Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone, and Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpeter Sean Jones. Olatuja released her debut recording, Timeless, which earned her a 4 star review from Down Beat, and featured McBride, harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, pianist Christian Sands and alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, and it also featured Olatuja’s inventive take on Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” Olatuja’s second release, Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women, featured selections composed by women including Sade, Linda Creed, Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman and Angela Bofill. In 2023 Olatuja also recorded The Parsonage: True Tales of Love and Anarchy at 64 East 7th St., featuring vocalist Theo Bleckmann. In addition to her career as a performing artist, Olatuja is also an exceptional educator. She’s taught at several schools including, The University of Texas, The University of Illinois, Baylor University, Snow College, and at several schools in Turkey, Serbia and Japan when she was on tour with the musical, La Mama Cantata, based on the life of theater director/producer Ellen Stewart. In 2021, during the pandemic, Olatuja - who is also a LPI certified Life Coach specializing in Vocal Empowerment - created the Vocal Breakthrough Academy: a 5 week online program where singers and non-singers who are looking to break through self-doubt and comparison learn how to authentically connect with themselves and others through singing so they can transform their voices while using singing as a vehicle for personal-development. For Olatuja, education is a family affair. “My grandmother was one of the first Black nurses who graduated from Washington University. And she went on to become a counselor, teacher and a college professor. My mother is a teacher. She's taught genius children. She's taught children with learning disabilities. She's taught adults, she's taught ESL, she’s done all these different types of educational curriculums… So, education has always been a very big deal in my family.” The future is a big deal for Alicia Olatuja. Her forthcoming projects include a reunion recording with Michael Olatuja, whom she had been touring with since 2021, and a new solo project. Simply put: We can expect a myriad of musical projects from this ever-evolving vocalist. “I'm the type of artist that wants to break the barriers and break the lines down between genres.”