Mother, Singer,
Composer, Producer, Teacher, and Activist - Jennifer (Tuscarora,
North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sistersthrough the
maternal line, and has been singing since she was young. She is known for her
fierce vocals and soaring range. Her lilting, breath-taking harmonies will
delight your ears.
Jennifer has been singing with the critically acclaimed Native women’s Trio
ULALI
since she was seventeen. Her voice has perfectly woven the high strand of
Ulali’s renowned harmony with incomparable skill, and grace for over seventeen
years, helping to create a new sound in Indian Country. Adding to the group, her
sharp wit and stage presence infused Ulali’s shows with strong vocals, humor and
camaraderie with the audience.
Jennifer was a Master Teaching Artist for the State of
Connecticut Commission on the Arts for over four years. She is
frequently called upon to guest lecture and conduct vocal workshops at
universities, schools, Native communities and at festivals throughout the United
States and Canada. She has done background vocals for various groups and
voice-overs for commercials some of which feature her own compositions and
highlight her production skills.
Jennifer made a guest appearance as Salmon Girl in Sherman
Alexie’s film The Business of Fancy
Dancing.
The film features her singing the Deer Song
which she composed in 1997 for the Aboriginal Women’s
Voices
project in Banff (subsequently featured on the Grammy nominated
DVD "One Giant Leap"). In addition, she also contributed to two
other tracks; Amazing Grace,
and
Osinilashatin--for
which she composed the melody and produced the track, singing with renowned
Native Actor and longtime collaborator Michelle St. John.
Jennifer composed, produced and performed the acclaimed song Have Hope
for the film Unnatural and Accidental.
Her rich and haunting voice can be heard throughout the soundtrack as well.
Michelle St. John is featured on Have Hope
doing background vocals. Jennifer also composed a song that she and Soni
Moreno sang for a Nickelodeon TV public service short about
September 11th. She and renowned Native Storyteller and Activist Dovie Thomason,
founded The Native American Scholarship Fund at Lynchburg
College in Virginia. Jennifer is also a Core Advisory member of the First Nations Composers Initiative and is a recipient of the Connecticut
Commission on Culture and Tourism Artist Fellowship Grant for 2007, for music
composition. In February 2007, The Genie Awards
(Canadian Oscar) awarded her with the Achievement in
Music-Original Song
Genie for her song Have Hope
(which also received a New York Times "Critic’s Pick").
She sings a song in the upcoming PBS/National Geographic
children’s production Momma Mirabelle.
Jennifer is also featured alone and with Ulali on the soundtrack of the upcoming
Canadian television film Elijah.
Her work with Ulali has carried her all over the world and extensively
throughout Indian Country. As part of the group, she has contributed to many
soundtracks including the TBS series The Native Americans
and subsequently contributed to two songs on Robbie Robertson’s
album of the same name. Some television appearances include: The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno,
The Late
Show
(London, UK), Egg The Arts
(NYC),
Keeping Time: New Music from America’s Roots I (Sundance Channel), and
the Joe
Suarez Show
(Brazil). Over the years Jennifer has been a recipient of the Eagle Spirit Achievement
Award
from the American Indian Film Institute in San Francisco; and a
winner of the Native Women’s
Recognition Award
from Ganondagon, NY; along with the Key
to the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. As co-writer and vocalist, Jennifer
also contributed to the Soundtrack of the Miramax Film Smoke Signals,
with the song Wah jhi le yihm.
Jennifer has happily shared the stage with such performers as Buffy
Saint-Marie, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne,
Ritchie Havens, Sting, Floyd Westerman,
Charlie Hill and many others. In addition, she has performed at
such venues as Woodstock 94, the Smithsonian Institute, NMAI, the 1996 and 2002
Olympics, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the
Hollywood Bowl (for the Dalai Lama). She has also
performed for V-day in Madison Square Garden and in
the Vagina
Monologues
film.
She is currently working on her much anticipated debut solo album titled
Wah Thye
Yeh Rak
(She Mixed It Tuscarora language) due out this winter. Jennifer is collaborating
with Tuscarora (NC) Activist, Actor, and Artist Christopher Lowry for the
Tuscarora language translations on her upcoming album. She is also teaming up
with renowned Creek/Cherokee/Seminole painter Dana Tiger for the album cover
artwork.
I love your solo CD, can't wait for more. Your voice is so beautiful, it just instills peace!! Thanks for singing in Mt. Pleasant for the Walk To Forgiveness.
GOOD THINKING 4 ALL OUR RELATIONS ~~~~ GOOD THINKING 4 ALL OUR RELATIONS... HOW DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT ? We hope well and warm... As did we. Although thers is a heavy burden on our hearts. We here at Good Thinking 4 All Our Relations, are tradotional natives, We follow the " Old Spiritual Ways" with the guidance of our elders, and the old spiritual ways we have been gifted with the ability to see clearer and objectively. And because of this we are presently helping the First Nations People, who are living in THIRD WORLD conditions. Yes here in America there are many native people living in THIRD WORLD conditions. Not all native tribes have casinos, in fact out of the 562 federally reconized tribes only about 220 have casinos on their reservations. of these 220 casinos many are not owned by the tribe whos land their built on. Out of all the casinos on tribal land 75% of all gaming revenues that go to the actual tribe, go to 12% of all tribes with gaming facilities. these and other facts are available on the web pages below. This infomation is being given to eleminate the belief that all indians have casinos. Some have very little, even more have nothing at all. Here at GOOD THINKING 4 ALL OUR RELATIONS. could use some help, with blankets and coats to send to the children and women in need of the most basic off things WARMTH. for more details contact us at Bearclans07@yahoo.com
hey sister, my wife and i are the founders of GOOD THINKING 4 ALL OUR RELATIONS... we gather blankets and some clothes for the ndn kids living below 3rd world conditions, and get the things to them with ALOT of help from the one who blows the clouds around, and makes the sun come up and the rain come down... please take a look at my blog good thinking 4 all our relations, my bro John Trudell kinda helped with the name. maybe some of your people can peek too. thank you sis... all my relations KISA
I like your singing. It's beautiful and hypnotic. I also have tinnitus. Suppose I should start singing to it. If you get a chance, check out my new song, "Done Did Me Wrong."