Women Who Rock My World

Of all the stunning black female singers in the world, the women who pull on my heartstrings the most by far are those who have also mastered instruments. As somebody with zero musical inclination, I never fail to be fascinated by anybody with the level of skill required to play with both their voices and their hands. Transcending a multitude of barriers, these women have truly blessed the universe with their unimaginable talents. While modern day black singers are all incredible on their own merit, musicians of multiple talents are, and always have been, thoroughly underappreciated for their phenomenal contributions to the arts.

So, with unfiltered excitement and sheer admiration fuelling my every word in this piece, I am thrilled to dedicate this piece to the women who can never be celebrated enough.

Going way back to the very end of the eighteenth century in Tennessee, a future genius was born into a family who survived one of the darkest periods of American history. Lillian Hardin grew up to an education of classical music and later found her love of popular and jazz music upon which she would build her remarkable career.

After her first marriage proved unsuccessful, she wound up in a romance with the very famous Louis Armstrong – and this is where her impact shines through. Not only did this incredible artist nurture a career of her own talent, in her own right, she also took it upon herself to push Armstrong to meet his full potential by dedicating a large part of her intelligence and passion to him. It is one matter for an artist to succeed for herself, it is an entirely other matter for this artist to possess such compassion as to help others in their success. In my eyes, she is the strong half of one of music’s greatest ever power couples and changed the face of music for black communities in her era and forever after. She continued to push her greatness right up to her death – sitting at a piano, during a memorial performance for Louis, when she suffered a fatal heart attack. She made magic to her very last breath and history has seldom seen such a heart dedicated to her craft.

(Pull yourself together, girl, we promised not to cry over this again.)

Aside from the very obvious reasons to pull inspiration from this woman, my personal draw to Lillian Hardin Armstrong is in the story of how she boosted her husband to the heights he reached. She never did any of this for fame of her own, or out of any arrogance – which she would be well within her right to flaunt – but out of pure love. She saw magic in him and refused to be put off by anybody around her, working tirelessly to do all she could to raise her future family to the stars while still curating her career, taking absolutely everything in her stride. As someone who has spent the last few years pushing the love of my own life to succeed against his insecurity and doubts, Lillian Hardin Armstrong encourages me every single day to keep going and fill my own romance with the same courage and strength.

The next favourite was brought to my attention by my boyfriend’s musical taste. Being a guitar player himself, he has an in-depth knowledge on a wide array of other talented guitarists, one of whom is Carlos Santana. As gifted as he is, it is his second wife who really takes the spotlight here. Not only is Cindy Blackman a brilliant black artist, she’s also a female bandleader and best known for her skill as a female drummer. Anybody familiar with the music industry will be well aware of the lack of female drummers and to find a successful black female drummer places her right at the top of my hall of fame.

Let’s face it – she’s taking on a world prejudiced against every facet of her identity and has trounced every single voice against her like it’s nothing, even so far as to use the stigma for her own empowerment. If any black female musician ever needed a role model, Cindy Blackman Santana is the godsend and we can only hope to achieve a fraction of the badassery this chick takes in her stride. Seriously, the next time you’re looking for a drummer to jam to, take a look at the queen of percussion.

So, having covered the objectively monumental bases, I’ll move on to my personal favourite. Being a Brit and a huge fan of indie music, finding black musicians close to my home and heart is a major challenge.

Enter Shingai Shoniwa, the Zimbabwean-British musician and frontwoman for one of my all-time favourite bands.

What’s this? A black woman, a British artist, an indie band member and a bassist? Sorry boyfriend – she will forever be the true love of my life.

Ignoring her stunning beauty for just a second, her voice is one that’s been stuck in my head for over a decade now. The Noisettes possess a sound and spirit that I am constantly seeking out and failing to find in the hoard of basic bands coming from the UK music scene. By now, I’ve long since realised that I’ll never find anybody – black, white, male, female, or anybody else – who can shake up my soul quite like Shingai does every single time she performs. My only heartbreak in all of this is that there are not more black artists in the indie world but I am ever hopeful that more will emerge with the right support and encouragement from the rest of us – we owe it to them, after all.

This woman, too, shares the same claim as the others I’ve written about so far. From Lillian’s proficiency with classical piano playing, to Cindy’s skill with jazz percussion, Shingai’s indie rock bass playing is what really sets her apart from the rest of the dull crowd.

You see, all musicians deserve recognition, as do all women and all those in black communities across the globe. However, finding a group of amazing virtuosos who belong to the intersection of black women, who each have incredible beauty inside and out, who are as proficient with their voices as with their hands, and who prove highly creative and intelligent – well, that’s a miracle in itself. To these genuine world-changers, who have spent their lives enriching the music industry by forever changing the arts, I cannot express my gratitude enough.

Once again, I find myself overwhelmed by enthusiasm and adoration for living in a world made so much better by these pioneers who, in my honest opinion, deserve to be recognised as such, for we would never know true boldness and beauty without them.