{"id":6063,"date":"2019-03-20T16:53:35","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T23:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.afm47.org\/press\/?p=6063"},"modified":"2024-03-13T09:57:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T16:57:08","slug":"afm47-member-spotlight-india-arie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afm47.org\/press\/afm47-member-spotlight-india-arie\/","title":{"rendered":"#AFM47 member spotlight: India.Arie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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India.Arie Simpson is among a small class of post-millennial R&B artists more likely to recall the likes of Roberta Flack and Bill Withers than almost any given artist played by urban contemporary radio stations.<\/p>\n

An AFM Local 47 member since 2003, she was born in Denver to parents from Memphis and Detroit. Her musical skills were encouraged by both parents in her younger years; her mother is a former singer (she was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green) and is now her stylist. India.Arie had taken up a succession of musical instruments throughout her schooling in Denver, but her interest in the guitar while attending the Savannah College of Art and Design led to a personal revelation about songwriting and performing.<\/p>\n

“When I started tapping into my own sensitivity, I started to understand people better,” she says. “It was a direct result of writing songs.”<\/p>\n

To date, India.Arie has sold over 10 million records worldwide, and won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.<\/p>\n

Watch the music video for “Cocoa Butter” off of the 2013 album SongVersation, recorded AFM here in Los Angeles:<\/p>\n