Joy Crookes

With a distinctive vocal style spanning remarkable breadth, the South London artist Joy Crookes crafted expansive, filmic ballads across the 2010s and into the following decade, unveiling her first full-length project, the 2021 album Skin.

Joy Elizabeth Akther Crookes entered the world in Lambeth and passed her childhood in Elephant and Castle, relocating to West London upon turning 14. Teaching herself piano and guitar, she shared covers on the internet during adolescence and drew the attention of the manager who would later represent her through a 15-year-old recording of “Hit the Road Jack.” Original songs soon appeared: at age 17 in 2016 she introduced the dramatic pair “New Manhattan” and “Sinatra,” both showcasing her expansive range and both later featured on her first EP, Influence, released the next year.

Online traction arrived via a COLORS live take of “Mother May I Sleep with Danger?,” after which she returned in 2019 with the January EP Reminiscence and the June EP Perception. These releases further developed her blend of pop, soul, R&B, and singer/songwriter elements, earning strong responses at her Glastonbury Festival set that June and on the headlining European tour that followed. Additional singles sustained momentum into 2021, when “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” launched the campaign for her debut album. Skin reached listeners that October as a 13-track collection co-produced by Blue May, allowing Crookes to apply her powerful voice across numerous soul-jazz ballads.