celebforum - Andra Day

Cassandra Monique "Andra" Batie (born December 30, 1984), who goes by the stage name Andra Day, is an American soul, R&B, jazz, blues, disco, and pop singer who has released one album and two singles.

Career

Andra Day attended the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in San Diego, California where she majored in Vocal Performance. She has been featured in a number of videos that aired on CBSnews.com, Vans.com, and GlobalGrind.com, among others. On October 5, 2012, Day released a cover of Jessie J’s "Mamma Knows Best" that peaked at #2 on the YouTube Music Charts and #24 that resulted in her signing to Warner Bros. Records.

Her debut album, Cheers to the Fall, was released on August 28, 2015.The album was produced by Adrian Gurvitz and Raphael Saadiq, and featured Questlove, James Poyser of The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Dap-Kings of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Spike Lee directed the video for the first single from the album, "Forever Mine", after hearing Day perform at Sundance Film Festival. Day performed her second single "Rise Up" at the 2015 BET Awards. She is featured on the soundtrack of the Netflix original documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone? She was also featured in Rolling Stone's "10 New Artists You Need to Know" for July 2015. NPR's Katie Presley has praised her singing by saying it has "Eartha Kitt's unflappable confidence, Amy Winehouse's effortless grasp of classic jazz, Billie Holiday's access to raw emotion and Adele's range and pop sensibility."

Other notable credits from August 2015 include Day's feature on the single "New York" from the album This Day In Music History
written and produced by Sal Filipelli
; also featuring Sly Stone, Munyungo Jackson
, Adrián Terrazas-González and Phunne Stone
.

Day performed at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games Closing Ceremony on August 2, 2015, alongside Carly Rae Jepsen and O.A.R. Day opened the August and September dates of Lenny Kravitz' tour in 2015. She also performed at the 2015 365 Black Awards, and performed her single "Rise Up" on ABC's Good Morning America on August 27, 2015. In November 2015, Day and Stevie Wonder were featured in a Christmas-themed Apple commercial, performing Wonder's song "Someday at Christmas."

On December 7, 2015 Day received two nominations at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards including Best R&B Performance for "Rise Up" and Best R&B Album for Cheers to the Fall.