Alysha Brilla

Alysha Brilla

Performing at The Jazz Room, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on June 13, 2014
Background information
Born Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Origin Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Genres Blues, jazz
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, Piano, Drums
Labels BMG, Lava/Universal Republic, Sunny Jam Records
Website www.alyshabrilla.com

Alysha Brilla is a twice Juno nominated Indo-Tanzanian-Canadian musician. Born in Mississauga, Ontario and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, Brilla started singing in her early teens in local bands and at various festivals, including the Coalflats[1] and Kitchener Blues Festival, where she was the 2008 winner of the Grande River Youth Legacy contest.[2] Brilla briefly attended Humber College's Jazz program in Toronto while playing local gigs and building a fanbase. In 2010, she was signed to Lava Records/Universal Republic.[3] Brilla was a featured performer at the 2010 Kitchener Blues Festival and Gala.[4] Alysha is now independent and runs her own music label, Sunny Jam Records Inc. and has released three self-produced studio albums on that label.

Early life

Brilla was born in Mississauga, Ontario to a European-Canadian mother and a Indo-Tanzanian father of the Khoja diaspora. Growing up in a mixed-race, mixed-religious household fostered interesting discussions around things like race, religion, value systems and ideals. Brilla’s father played guitar growing up in Tanzania and her mother was an avid storyteller. Brilla experienced a lot of bullying in middle school and she cites music and nature as her coping mechanism.

Teenage years

In 2005, Brilla won the "Rhythm of The Future" contest hosted by a local radio station. This sponsored her $20,000 to record a demo with producer Marcus Kane in Toronto. Brilla's mother would drive Alysha to Toronto after school several nights a week, sometimes coming home after 2 a.m.

On her 14th birthday, Brilla was given her father's acoustic guitar and she began teaching herself to play. While still playing blues and jazz covers with her band in Kitchener, Brilla began testing her own material at solo-acoustic shows met with a very positive response.

After graduating high school, a brief stint at Humber College deepened her appreciation for jazz music. During this time, Brilla was recording/producing her own songs and released an eleven song EP called "Got Soul". Friend Brad Marshall introduced Alysha to Jacksoul keyboardist and producer Ron Lopata and the two began to demo some of Brilla's original songs with a full band.

Shortly thereafter, Brilla was signed to Last Gang Management.

Career

Arts Education

Brilla has performed and presented at schools internationally; speaking out about inclusivity, anti-bullying and healing through the arts.

Influences

Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Joni Mitchell, Indian & African Music

Production

Brilla took a production co-op in high school and was accepted to Seneca College’s Production degree, but opted to study Jazz at Humber College. All of her releases have been self-produced. Brilla is outspoken about seeing more women in production.

In 2016, Brilla produced her first short documentary titled Indigenizing Post-Secondary Education. This film looks at reshaping our education systems in Canada to include Indigenous content and teaching methods in everyday classes.

Record Label

In 2010, Alysha Brilla signed a record deal with U.S. Label, "Lava/Universal Republic" Records. She moved to L.A. and began recording and collaborating with American producers Brian West, Rick Nowels, Sam Farrar and others. Due to creative differences, Brilla split with the label in 2012 and started her own record label, "Sunny Jam Records, Inc" and has released all of her albums on that imprint.

Songwriting

Brilla was signed to BMG Publishing and she writes all her own music and lyrics, as well as writing and co-writing with/for other artists. Brilla's music has been featured on TV shows including Degrassi: The Next Generation and CMT's Unstable.[5] as well as Showcase Network's Television series King. Brilla is currently self-published through her company Get Lifted Publishing, Inc.

Yoga

Brilla has practised yoga for several years. On her Facebook page she has stated that it makes her "so happy and has gotten (her) through so many difficult times". In November, 2014 Brilla travelled to Rishikesh, India where she studied and obtained her yoga teaching certification. She currently teaches in the disciplines of Hatha and Vinyasa yoga.

Notable

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album
2008 Got Soul
2012 Brilla (EP) [11]
2013 In My Head [12]
2014 Womyn [13]
2016 Human [14]
2017 Roots (forthcoming)

Collaborations

References

  1. ↑ "Players Bio". Coalflatsblues.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  2. 1 2 "TheRecord.com - arts - Brilla wins Showcase award". News.therecord.com. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  3. 1 2 "Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. - New Signings for LAVA and Cherry Lane". Cherrylane.com. 2010-06-14. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  4. ↑ "Performers". Kitchener Blues Festival. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  5. ↑ "Country Music Television : Videos, Music and Community". CMT.ca. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  6. ↑ "Midem Finalists".
  7. ↑ "U.K. Song Writing Awards 2014 Winners".
  8. ↑ "2014 Juno Nominees & Winners".
  9. ↑ "The Buzzz hosted by Alysha Brilla". Cestwhat.com. 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  10. ↑ "Press Release". Torontobluessociety.com. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  11. ↑ "Brilla". iTunes. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  12. ↑ "In My Head". iTunes. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Womyn". iTunes. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Human". iTunes. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
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