Karen Briggs

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Karen Briggs

Background information
Born	Manhattan, New York United States
Instrument(s)	Violin
Associated acts	See below
Website	*Karen Briggs at MySpace

Karen Briggs, (born 1963) is an American violinist. She was born in New York City and grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia. Taking violin lessons from an early age, Briggs attended Norfolk State University after graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1981. There, she majored in music education and mass media. By 1983, she was playing with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, where she remained for the next four years. In 1987, she returned to New York City, where she won amateur night at the famous Apollo Theater four times. After marrying in 1988 and moving to Los Angeles, Briggs embarked on her first professional tour with Soul II Soul and toured throughout America and Japan.

In 1991, Briggs auditioned for Yanni, the contemporary instrumental keyboard composer. She spent the next thirteen years touring and recording with him, and can be seen on his live music videos including Yanni Live at the Acropolis, Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall, and in Tribute performed both at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India and in the Forbidden City, in China. From her appearance on these Yanni videos, she was nicknamed "The Lady in Red." The Ethnicity tour of 2004 marked her last with Yanni.

Briggs also made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1994, performing with pianist Dave Grusin. She has also performed with a number of other artists over the years, including Stanley Clarke, the Wu Tang Clan, En Vogue and Chaka Khan, Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Clarke, Benise, Marla Gibbs, Kenny Loggins, Ashley Maher, Taliesin Orchestra, and Diana Ross, just to name a few. Her career includes appearances in many TV/movie soundtracks as well as various other concerts (ranging from Carnegie Hall to Harlem's Apollo Theater) and TV shows. She also had a cameo appearance in the 1999 motion picture Music of the Heart.

Briggs has a natural ability to improvise in various styles of music, such as symphonic orchestra, Latin orquesta, R & B, gospel, jazz ensemble and even rap. Additional exposure to genres of Caribbean, Afro Latin, Pop and Middle Eastern musical idioms has allowed her to evolutionize her identifiable style.

Briggs took part in a documentary titled "Live Music, Community & Social Conscience" while part of Geri Allen's ensemble at the Frog Island Music Festival.

In 2002 Briggs recorded some music for the Hidden Beach Recordings label on a CD titled Unwrapped Vol. 2, including her rendition of a popular rap song from the artist Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise", among other songs that Briggs contributed to this project.