Recording Artist: Nicki Kris
“Nicki Kris is an award-winning Billboard charting singer/songwriter based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her music has captured an international audience since the soul stylings of her debut album, I Come Alive in 2013. Her songs have been featured in award-winning movies, TV shows, and on radio stations worldwide, and she has been on the official ballot for the Grammy Awards for the past eight years in numerous categories.
Nicki’s unique and powerful diva-style voice has been compared to artists Pink and Adele as well as top female rockers of the past, Pat Benatar and Stevie Nicks, while her songwriting takes a decidedly modern turn.
When not working on her own music or various collaboration projects, Nicki is a champion for women in the music and entertainment industry. She’s the host of “Mixing It with Nicki Kris” broadcast on the new SIMRadio Network and the co-founder of Sisters In Music (SIM) an organization that promotes and encourages educational opportunities, collaborative musical works, and performances among women to raise awareness and funding for various female-focused charities.”
If you could reach any goal in 2021, what would it be?
Kick-off our first SIM music project with full funding.
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
Various artists, 30 Seconds to Mars, Skylar Grey, Linkin Park, life events, the world around me.
How have your life experiences influenced your music?
Music has been a part of me for as long as I can remember. Even at a very young age, I had the urge to sing and perform, and I spent most of my childhood and middle school years finding opportunities to do so. When I started high school, my passion for music grew even deeper. Like many teenagers who turn to the creative arts, music was an escape for me… an escape from low self-esteem and not-so-great family life. I would find myself tucked away in my bedroom, teaching myself to play a keyboard I had worked all summer to purchase myself, writing down every idea in a notebook that I still have to this day. There, in my solitude, my love for songwriting was born.
Throughout those challenging high school years, music consumed me and made me feel alive. It became my family, filling in the missing pieces from my actual one. More and more, music became the only path I wanted to take, and the only career that made sense. Then, toward the end of my senior year, my path was altered when my older brother was killed in a car accident. His death had a profound impact on me, and I decided to put music on the back burner and go to college. I could feel my dreams slowly slipping away as I did the dutiful thing… I earned my degree, found a job, started dating my future husband, and eventually got married and had kids. Although I was happy with my life, I knew deep inside that I was giving up on my true dream as I fell into the everyday routine of a mortgage, kids’ football practice, and PTA meetings.
Fast forward to 2011 (15 years later)… I was reading a young adult book series while recuperating from surgery, which was the first moment I had slowed down in all that time. I could feel my music dreams bubbling to the surface, pushing against the resistance I had placed there. I don’t know if it was something in the book or my conversation with my son about following his dreams, but I could no longer keep the music bottled up. It was time, and I had a lot to say. It was like the floodgates opened and I could no longer contain my creativity!
The music flowed within me, even stronger than when I was young, and within two years I released my debut album. I later released an EP, and between both projects, I managed to get some songs recognized nationally, get on several TV shows, and I even made the first round of the Grammys a few times! I started collaborating with a lot of people higher-up in the industry than me and found my way to producer/engineer Kevin McNoldy, who worked with Dave Matthews, Sissy Spacek, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and more. We eventually started co-writing on the songs he produced for me, including the title track from my “Heartbeat” album, and the single “Captain America,” which opened up a lot of doors for my music. When you listen to my voice in those songs, you can hear all the pain, anguish, and resistance I had to fight through to make the music happen. My singing isn’t just me voicing a melody, it’s my outlet to express everything I’ve gone through to reach this point.
How can fans learn more about you?
www.nickikri…
Twitter/Instagram: @nickikris
Facebook: @nickikrismusic
Contact: Info@nickikr…
Can you give us a sample of Nicki Kris music?
Supreme{PR} is excited to feature Nicki Kris on our upcoming Supreme HEAT playlist compilation. Follow us at soundcloud.c… for updates.
