Emma Smith

British jazz vocalist Emma Smith has earned recognition for both her polished and lively solo performances and her place in the tight-knit vocal trio the Puppini Sisters. Active as a performer from her teenage years, she first drew wider notice through the 2013 solo album The Huntress. She has contributed to five Puppini Sisters albums and collaborated with Michael Bublé, Georgie Fame, and the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2024 she turned to her Jewish heritage for the standards and original pop album Meshuga Baby.

A London native raised in a musical household, Smith began singing at an early age. While still a teenager she toured with the legacy Glenn Miller Orchestra. At 15 she entered the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, where she served as its principal female vocalist and vocal coach. A scholarship took her to the Purcell School of Music for studies in jazz and classical choral chamber music, after which she graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2012, while still a student, she issued her debut collection of standards, The Huntress, supported by pianist Matt Robinson, bassist Tim Thornton, and drummer Andy Ball.

Her association with the Puppini Sisters, the close-harmony group styled after the 1940s and 1950s, began around the time of that first album. Over the ensuing decade she toured with the trio and appeared on releases such as the 2016 album The High Life, 2017’s The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo, and 2020’s Dance, Dance, Dance. Whether working with the Puppini Sisters or independently, she has performed alongside Michael Bublé, Kurt Elling, Robbie Williams, Guy Barker, Georgie Fame, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Alongside her continued stage work, Smith hosted a weekly jazz program on BBC Radio 3 with saxophonist and co-host Soweto Kinch. Her output of standards EPs includes the 2022 holiday-themed Snowbound as well as the 2024 set Easy Living, You Go to My Head, and Chelsea Bridge.

Beginning in 2018 she began exploring her family’s Jewish heritage, an experience that shaped the 2024 album Meshuga Baby, whose title offers a playful nod to the Yiddish word for crazy. Trumpeter James McMillan produced the record, which featured Smith’s trio of pianist Jamie Safir, bassist Conor Chaplin, and drummer Luke Tomlinson. In 2025 she issued the intimate Smile EP, lending her distinctive approach to the classic Charlie Chaplin title track and the collection as a whole.