Sonali Bijor
A charming smile and soulful sound has Sonali Bijor ready to step out onto the music world’s center stage. This versatile songstress, who fuses sensitive English and Hindi vocals with R&B, jazz, funk, and lounge, is a new voice destined to hit the airwaves.
Sonali was born in 1981 in Santa Clara, California, the second of three children. The daughter of East Indian parents, her name means “golden” in Hindi. Growing up, Sonali got her first taste of performing in front of a live audience through dance. At 8 years old, she started learning the classical Indian dance of Kathak with world-renowned master dancer Chitresh Das and trained with him for 10 years. When she was 13 years old, Sonali’s father realized that her talents went beyond dance. He encouraged her to sing with him as lead female vocalist in his East-Indian music band, performing Bollywood film songs and ghazals (love poems sung in Urdu) at private parties and cultural events.
It wasn’t until she won the part of the Wicked Witch in her junior high’s musical remake of “The Little Mermaid” that she realized she belonged on stage. From there, she went on to secure lead roles in several musical productions, including classics such as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Once Upon a Mattress.” This passion for performance during her formative high school years led her to UCLA for her college education. At UCLA, Sonali joined an all-female a capella group – Random Voices – and gained popularity with her rousing rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”
After college, Sonali decided to pursue a professional career in singing. She got her first break at the famous Hollywood nightclub “Sunset Room,” where she opened for recording artists KC and Jojo, Shai, D’wayne Wiggins formerly of the group Toni Tone Tony, Tommy Davidson, and Aaron Hall.
Inspired by artists such as Sade and Jill Scott, Sonali incorporates elements from their diverse styles as well as music from her own East-Indian heritage to create and define her own sound. In addition to working on her music, Sonali still loves to act and auditions for small parts in movies and local plays. She also does modeling work for M International modeling agency.
