Samantha Lindo

Samantha Lindo is a Bristol based UK Jazz and Soul artist with a voice that is ‘hauntingly flawless’, ‘having crowds mesmerised within seconds’ (Bristol Post). Coined as Etta James meets Kate Tempest, Nitelife magazine described how ‘weaving poetry’ and ‘beautiful lyricism through her songs’, Samantha presents some ‘very raw and real issues about love, life and the human condition’. Part of the wave of emerging UK Jazz artists such as Celeste, Ezra Collective and Yasmin Lacey, her single ‘Turn & Leave’ was launched alongside James Morrison at Sofar Sounds & Amnesty International’s global event ‘Give a Home’ and she performed it as featured artist at the national TEDx event ‘Daring to Disrupt’ in front of a live audience at Colston Hall and of over 1M online. ‘Turn & Leave’ has been featured on Spotify playlists curated by Saffron Records - Bristol’s all female record label - and Sofar Sounds City Spotlight - a mix of the Sofar Team’s favourite artists over the last few years. It also appeared in a short film, ‘About’, by Brixton based Authentive productions and, most notably, was chosen by BBC Introducing and BBC 6 Music to feature nationally on the BBC Sounds The Hotlist this November. She was recently featured in The Guardian’s photographic essay telling the story behind her new single ‘Lips’, released last week at her sell out show in Bristol. The track celebrates all the unlikely women stepping up into activism to defend our earth. Despite the seriousness of the subject, she describes the song itself as a “banging soul tune” with a hip-hop beat, eighties synth and tight female harmonies to set it all off. Having set up all-female arts collective Girls, Girls, Girls, with whom she performed at Union Chapel and featured in Oh Comely magazine’s issue on sisterhood, Lindo was invited to sing & speak in the Museum of London's exhibition ‘Votes for Women’ last year which inspired her into activism. Her next single ‘Underside’ will be launched in February at Rough Trade Bristol and the Servant Jazz Quarters in London, as well at The Listening Room at St George’s Bristol. She will be discussing the inspiration behind the track in an artists Q&A at the launch supported by Time to Change, a charity aimed at destigmatizing talking about mental health. ‘Underside’ shows off Lindo’s vocal delivery that holds the possibility for both depth and an effortless soaring, it fits comfortably in the rising UK jazz scene with Tom Misch-like guitar lines. The track is lined up to be remixed by influential Bristol producer DJ Bunjy, the force behind the legendary hip-hop and reggae act Laid Blak, and 2020 will see some epic collaborative releases from the pair as well as three solo singles, an EP and a UK tour from Samantha. Lindo’s special relationship with her jazz loving grandfather (one of the first Jamaican Anglican priests in the UK) helped nurture her love of the vocal greats and backed by her new band of ‘exceptionally talented’ musicians, Nitelife Online concluded that they ‘can well imagine Samantha shooting up to the top with an alarming speed – eyes peeled for this girl!’