Robin McKelle

Robin McKelle has long balanced classic rhythm & blues with traditional pop, yet her strongest pull has always been toward swing and big-band jazz. Born Robin McElhatten in Rochester, NY, she grew up as the daughter of a liturgical vocalist and spent a decade playing French horn while also studying classical piano; her earliest touchstones were Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, and Gladys Knight. By her late teens, jazz harmonies began to captivate her, drawing her instead to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, and Nancy Wilson. Between 1994 and 1996 she studied at the University of Miami before transferring to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, from which she graduated in 1999. After relocating to Los Angeles to work as a backup singer on the road, she returned to Boston and spent three years teaching voice at Berklee.

Her profile rose sharply when she placed third at the 2004 Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz Competition in Washington, D.C., an achievement that opened professional doors, among them an audition for Blue Note Records. Since then she has performed or recorded with the Boston Pops Orchestra, BeBe Winans, Jon Secada, George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, Pete Christlieb, Andy Snitzer, Bob Shepard, Joe Magnarelli, Wayne Bergeron, Darren Hayes, David Bowie, Carly Simon, Don Grusin, Lonnie Plaxico, Carl Allen, and Michael McDonald. Her discography began with the independent release Never Let Me Go, followed by Introducing Robin McKelle and Modern Antique on the Cheap Lullaby label; the latter album was subsequently issued in France by Blue Note. In 2008 she launched an extensive European tour.