Malina Moye

Malina Moye sings, writes songs, and plays guitar left-handed, moving fluidly between sleek contemporary R&B ballads and blues-tinged hard-rock numbers. She first appeared in 2004 on the single “Alone,” which introduced her in an R&B mode, yet the album Diamonds & Guitars, issued five years later, shifted attention toward her guitar playing. With 2014’s Rock & Roll Baby she emerged as a full-fledged guitar heroine, enlisting Bootsy Collins for the track “K-Yotic,” while the 2018 EP Bad as I Wanna Be delivered a sharp blend of hard rock and R&B.

Music surrounded her from birth: her father, bassist George Moye, and her mother, who provided backup vocals for Tina Turner, gave her a guitar at age six. In 2004 she and filmmaker Marc Fusco established the WCE label to release her material; that same year WCE issued her debut single “Alone,” which registered modestly on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Her first full-length project, Diamonds & Guitars, finally arrived in 2009, a wide-ranging collection that included guest spots from rappers Layzie Bone and Smif-N-Wessun’s Steele. Throughout this period, praise for her upside-down, Jimi Hendrix–style guitar technique grew steadily. In 2012 she joined the Experience Hendrix tour alongside Eric Gales, Eric Johnson, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and she also appeared in a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame salute to Chuck Berry. Rock & Roll Baby, her second album, followed in 2014. Three years later she returned with Bad as I Wanna Be, an EP fusing rock and R&B that reached number 19 on the Heatseekers chart.