Shakura S'aida Celebrates The Release Of Debut CD 'Blueprint'

TORONTO, Canada (Top40 Charts/ Festival Distribution PR) - An active member of the Toronto music scene for over 20 years, it's taken that long for Brooklyn-born singer Shakura S'Aida to create a long-awaited debut blues recording "Blueprint."

She'll launch the 11-track CD at a special concert at Toronto's new jazz venue Live @ The Courthouse on Tuesday May 15.

Raised in half a dozen US cities and in Switzerland, the multi-lingual Shakura S'Aida (pronounced "shah-koo-rah sigh-ee-da") relishes Toronto's wide-ranging music community. In addition to solo work with her own band, she's a regular member of Bill King's Saturday Night Fish Fry Band, and was lead singer with the 13-piece world music band Kaleefah.

Having performed on stages around the world and nominated twice for Maple Blues Awards as "Female Vocalist of the Year." S'Aida is a powerful performer who has appeared with legendary artists including Ruth Brown and organist Jimmy Smith; she's also played at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theatre.

She recently performed a duo performance with Grammy-winning New Orleans musician and actor Chris Thomas King (O Brother Where Art Thou) for a CBC recording, and toured with Dawn Tyler Watson, Angel Forrest, Suzie Vinnick and Lulu Hugues in Quebec and the United States as a member of Les Grandes Dames du Blues.

Inspired by classic blues and soul artists, she describes her debut CD as a blueprint of a musical journey combining elements of jazz, blues and gritty soul. "Blueprint" is distributed in Canada by Vancouver based Festival Distribution, and produced by James Bryan, a member of Philosopher Kings and currently guitarist for Nelly Furtado.

Who: Powerful vocalist Shakura S'Aida
What: CD release party for her debut recoridng "Blueprint"
Where: Live @ The Courthouse (56 Adelaide Street, Toronto - 416-214-9379)
When: Tuesday May 15; three sets, starting at 8:00 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.)
Tickets: $10.00 at door