Nicky Lawrence is a moody, tender, tour de force of a performer and vocal artist. Moved to sing by the black women who sang before her and who continue to sing within her, Lawrence’s voice will grab you by the throat with the force of its pain, beauty, rage and ultimately—love. Brimming with the longing, courage and despair of her jazz and blues heroes—Nina, Etta, Ella—Lawrence’s original songs are devastatingly elegant and sensual, lit by the fires of the past alongside the aching light and hope of the future. Lawrence’s vocals are redemptive; with the release of her single, The Ugly Black Woman, Toronto audiences are invited to witness an excavation of truth and history that will cut the heart open and begin to heal us all.

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