Since her debut EP “Nothing To Lose”, Nectar has surpassed 1M listeners on Spotify, earned a viral breakthrough with “Good Vibrations”, and last year released critically acclaimed second EP ‘Head Above Water’, featuring BBC Radio 2 playlisted ‘How It’s Gotta Be’ and the title track was BBC Radio 1’s Track Of The Week. Described as “one of the best new British voices'' and “blossoming” - a word which encapsulates her distinctive name - Nectar’s songwriting is influenced by the musical roots of her Ghanaian heritage and raw storytelling.
Now 25-years-old, Nectar has already headlined a sold-out Omeara and supported the likes of Leon Bridges, The Teskey Brothers at Alexandra Palace, NAO at Brixton Academy, Jordan Mckampa and Jalen Ngonda. Her reputation as a live performer is growing at pace, whether commanding an intimate stage or captivating festival audiences, Nectar’s shows brim with emotional precision and natural charisma. Already bringing her sunshine to festivals including Glastonbury, Love Supreme and The Great Escape so far this summer, Nectar will also perform at further festivals including Jazz Cafe Festival, Splendour Festival, and Kendal Calling.
Alongside her own artistry, Nectar is also a presenter on Soho Radio for the acclaimed platform Women in Jazz, spotlighting female and non-binary voices across the jazz and soul spectrum. “It’s about building community through music,” she says. “That’s what I love the most.”
Having been raised in “a working class area in Milton-Keynes”, Nectar grew up around so many talented people from different cultural backgrounds, but she noticed that what helped kids stay on the right track was “keeping them occupied with creative spaces. It’s so sad that only financially stable families are able to provide creative spaces for their kids. I think it should be for everyone. Everyone is creative, and they should be provided the means to explore that.” Nectar’s Ghanaian amateur saxophone-player father would help create that space for her and fill the house with jazz and Highlife music, while her English mother worked as an artist and fashion pattern cutter; exposed to a creative way of life and a wide variety of sounds, both mainstream and niche, it was able to open Nectar’s ears to a world of sonic possibility.
Nectar’s formative years were shaped by local music rooms, self-taught chords, and a deep love for artists like Erykah Badu. After learning guitar and immersing herself in performance, she earned a Creative Musicianship degree at London’s ICMP and began quietly building a name through London’s underground soul and jazz scenes, and credits the early 2010’s wave of London singers (Winehouse, Duffy) for making her want to move to the capital, but it was the people she met when she arrived that truly steered Nectar towards the warm, jazz-infused sound that she inhabits today.
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