аÄÃÅ¿ª½±½á¹û

India Arie. Photo by Chris Hakkens.

Top 10 Amazing facts about India Arie

India Arie Simpson is a singer and songwriter born on the 3rd of October 1975. 

Her genre of music is Neo soul and R&B which combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip-hop, and electronic music.

She is one of the most popular Neo soul and R&B in the world selling over ten million records. Her parents encouraged her musical skills from an early age.

Her mother was also an accomplished singer who was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green. She is now her stylist.

She is a pioneer in her field and has affected upcoming artists. She stands up for what she believes in February 2022 she joined other Artists in announcing plans to remove her music from the music service Spotify.

This was because a podcast host used Joe Rogan was reported to use the platform to give out false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Arie has also been reported to claim the host made racial comments on the show.

Here are 10 Amazing facts about India:

1. Arie has sold over ten million records worldwide

She is one of the most famous artists of Neo Soul which is heavily based on soul music and distinguished by a less conventional sound than its contemporary R&B which she also interacts with.

She has incorporated elements ranging from funk, jazz fusion, hip hop, and African music to pop, rock, and electronic music.

Her work has gained worldwide prominence selling over five million records in the United States alone.

She has sold over ten million records worldwide and has become a self-made millionaire with a net worth of 4.5 Million.

2. Her father was a former professional basketball player

India Arie. Photo by Texas A&M University-Commerce Marketing Communications Photography. .

India’s father is Ralph Derek Simpson.

He is a former American basketball player mad worked as an assistant coach for Metro state.

He played professionally in the American Basketball Association then moved National Basketball Association (NBA) playing for ten years.

He was the shooting guard and worked with the Denver Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, and Philadelphia 76ers among many others.

3. India Co-founded the Atlanta-based independent music collective Groovement EarthShare

India is claimed to be one of the artists who brought Independent music to Atlanta.

Independent music also known as indie music follows a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.

The music is produced independently by commercial record labels or their subsidiaries.

The music collective Groovement she co-found was named after the collective artist’s name and EarthShare was their independent label name.

4. She has won four Grammy awards

The Grammy Award is an honor awarded by the Recording Academy to recognize Outstanding Achievement in the music industry of the United States.

The Grammy is considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards and was first held on the 4th of May 1959.

India Arie Simpson has been awarded four Grammy Awards from her 23 nominations, including Best R&B Album.

5. Arie is African-American according to a DNA analysis

India Arie at The Nobel Peace Price Concert. Photo by Harrywad.

India is an African -American whose origins were traced to the region of west Africa through DNA analysis.

Arie is believed to be a descendant of the Mende people which is one of the two largest ethnic groups of Sierra Leone.

She is also believed to descend from the Kru people from West Africa who are indigenous to western Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia and the Fulani people who are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa settled in Guinea-Bissau.

6. India has collaborated with many artists

India has collaborated with numerous stars on various albums and music.

She collaborated with Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time by Carlos Santana in 2010.

During the same year, she also worked with The Imagine Project by Herbie Hancock. In 2020 she worked with the Kenyan Band Sauti Sol for their Midnight Train album on the song ” My Everything”.

7. She was named to Oprah Winfrey’s SuperSoul100 list

Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist.

She is the host of the popular conversation podcast known as Super Soul which began in 2017. Super Soul honors visionaries and influential leaders who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward.

A list of 100 was created called the SuperSoul100 and India Arie was named one of them.

Others on the list are LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, author Janet Mock, activist Shaka Senghor, Teacher Deepak Chopra, ballerina Misty Copeland, and director Ava DuVernay among others.

8. Arie developed a deeper interest in music at the Savannah College of Art and Design

India Arie performing in Lokeren Belgium. Photo by Chris Hakkens.

The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private nonprofit art school that was founded in 1978. SCAD has locations in Savannah, Atlanta, Lacoste, and France.

The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and other professional accrediting bodies to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the United States.

After her parents’ divorce when Arie was 13, her mother moved the family to Atlanta, Georgia.

She already had a keen interest in musical instruments while in Denver, but her interest in the guitar while attending the SCAD.

Here she revealed she underwent a personal revelation about songwriting and performing.

Arie claimed this is where she started tapping into her own sensitivity and started to understand people better.

9. She has starred in a Broadway musical

India Arie Simpson is a very talented artist and performer.

She can adapt to any situation and deliver a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

Not only is she a singer and songwriter she is also an actor having been featured in films like Sesame Street, Blues clues, the Bernie Mac show, Being Mary Jane, etc.

She also graced the theatre stage in 2009 portraying Nina Simone reading for the upcoming Broadway musical “Soul Doctor.

This was at the Roundabout Theatre Company written by Daniel Wise about the life of Shlomo Carlebach written.

10. India has performed in numerous tours

India Arie on the Red Carpet. Photo by Philip Nelson.

Arie is a nationally acclaimed artist. She has sold numerous records worldwide and has had to go on tours to perform and them.

She performed the opening act for the Lovers Rock Tour in 2001. She headlined the Voyage to World Tour in 2002-2003, the Testimony Tour from 2006 and 2010, and the Songversation Tour from 2013-2014.

She has performed in large institutions as well like the Texas A&M University of Commerce in April 2014.