Maya Azucena
Brooklyn-born and raised songbird Maya Azucena is often described as the “hardest working artist I know.”
Fiercely progressive in her career, managing and booking herself, she has received wide recognition in her worldwide Independent journey. The NY Post recently described Maya Azucena as having a “towering voice which has echoes of old-school divas, like Chaka Khan and Roberta Flack.”
In addition to the growing buzz across the U.S., she's toured European cities of London, Bath, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and ZoeterMeer. She recently made a return engagement to Toronto, performed in Italy and Croatia for the first time, and continues to build her international fan base. This year Maya has shared stages or been on bills with artists Roberta Flack, Bilal, Martin Luther, Jaguar Wright, Leon Ware, Richard Bona, Lupe Fiasco, Rhymefest, Sleepy Brown, Big Daddy Kane, CL Smooth, and more. Add those to a lofty list of past shared bills with such artists as the Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight, Anthony Hamilton, Platinum Pied Pipers, and John Legend.
In September, Maya was selected for the second year to sing the National Anthem at the start-line of NYC's Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk for the Cure, followed by a concert in Central Park. Earlier this year, she sang on Washington DC's historic Mall at the Save Darfur Rally against genocide in the Sudan, in solidarity with national activists and celebrities such as Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, and George Clooney. Maya also performed in several Katrina benefits in New York, and continues to remain active on community issues.
This Summer on Best Sound/Sony-BMG, Maya wrote and recorded four songs for Milanese hiphop artist, DJ JAD - the DJ for popular Italian hiphop group Articolo 31. Maya’s song, “This Feeling,” featuring rapper Krumbsnatcha, was chosen as the advance single and music video. In support of this project, Maya has appeared on television video countdown shows; Top of the Pops, CD Live and MTV-Total Request Live in Italy. The Jad-produced project also features artists Keith Murray, Smif-n-Wesson, N'dea Davenport, DJ Tony Touch, and Sacha, among others.
Croatian Superstar, Gibonni, released his new CD titled UNCA FIBRE in May, with “Andejo U Tebi” (''Angel In You'') featuring Maya. “Angel In You” is the first song on the CD, and is now the second single and music video. Maya was recently flown to Croatia to shoot the music video and make a guest appearance at Gibonni’s concert in a sports arena for over 10,000 fans. In the two visits to Croatia, Maya has been mentioned in over a dozen popular newspapers. Most recently, Maya is excited about the duet she recorded with Stephen Marley for his upcoming Tuff Gong/Universal Records release. The duet, "Let Her Dance", is designated for a music video and has spawned an ongoing working relationship with Stephen (the producer and behind-the-scenes man for Damian, Ziggy and more).
Other Maya Azucena recording collaborators include HipHop duo A-Alikes/Nervous records; Boot Camp Clik for Tupac Shakur Enteprise's benefit CD The Rose-Vol 2/Amaru Entertainment; reggae-legend Half Pint for the re-make, “Crazy Girl,” on Half Pint's new independent CD; DJ Super-Star Jonathan Peters/Ultra Records; DJ/Producer Rich Medina/Kindred Spirits; Grammy-award producer Devon "Devo Springstein" Harris; Soul Artist and Keyboardist Chris Rob; Senegalese Hiphop group Gokh-bi System; British rapper Nomadic (of The Planets); Toronto's Darp Malone; NY rapper Stimulus (Real Live Show); Hip Hop producers Black Panther, LaVolta, Blahzay, Ayatollah, and more. Maya also continues her powerful song collaborations with guitarist/song-writer Christian Ver Halen.
The Maya Azucena Band, which has aided in building Maya’s signature sound, continues to work together in it's fourth year.
This year, Maya Azucena has made frequent television appearances. BET-J’s “THE LIST” broadcast a guest live performance and interview. Network station UPN-St Louis chose Maya's song “Do You Really Wanna Party” as its 2006 Summer theme song. The station flew Maya to St. Louis to film a promotional commercial that aired throughout the season. UPN affiliates in both Jackson, Mississippi, and Columbia, SC, also featured the song in their promos. TheCircuitTV.com, hosted by, MTV2's Jeremy Hassell, featured a Maya Azucena interview/profile piece, along with clips from the Jason Fisher-directed music video “Too Much.” The same episode featured this year's Grammy winner Mike Shinoda of LINKIN PARK. The Circuit gets an average of 400,000 to 600,000 subscribers per show. Fearless Music/Fox-TV, the late night concert-format television show, recently had the Maya Azucena Band as a guest. Historically geared toward independent Rock, Fearless has now ventured into Soul, and the show chose Maya Azucena, along with Floetry, as one of its first Soul bookings. The show is scheduled to air complete performances of three or more songs. Behind the scenes, Azucena's voice has also been heard on national NAIR commercials in "The Less You Wear" campaign and other commercials such as Icy Hot, Macy’s INC, Mike's Hard Lemonade and Longhorn Steakhouse.
“Deep and soul-bearing, she sings like she's been everywhere and seen it all,” says CDBaby.com, the online music store where many of Maya’s independent sales are made. “This soul/R&B/hip hop album is a fantastic launching point for a young woman with a bright and long career ahead of her.”
“Azucena comes across as a completely real character in her songs, someone you not only believe in, but you're rooting for to win in the end,” asserts the East Bay Express. Adds Performing Songwriter Magazine: “Maya Who?! Won’t be a question people ask for long.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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