KELLYLEE EVANS

One foot in electronic sounds, the other in the spirit dear to Motown, Kellylee Evans gives us a repertoire bordering on jazz, soul and groove, all with talent and generosity.

Of Jamaican descent, she was born in Toronto, Canaa. She studied at Carleton University, and discovered jazz one day when “lost in the elevators of the Loeb Building, she discovered the music department on the eighth floor. She is preparing two degrees in law and in English literature, before starting a master's degree in law in 1997. She stopped studying in 2000 to devote herself to a musical career.

In 2004, she won second prize in the 25th Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Vocal Jazz Competition with Quincy Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Al Jarreau among the jury members.

In June 2013 and November 2015, Kellylee Evans suffered two serious accidents which required a very long period of convalescence where she remained inactive.  

In the summer of 2017, Kellylee Evans can finally return to the stage with an acoustic training to present her album, limiting herself to a few dates in Canada. She became artist in residence at the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University in Ottawa, where she produced a series of artistic lectures.

The album Come On was named in the Jazz Vocal Album of the Year category at Juno 2018.

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In 2018, she participated in several festivals in Canada, as well as in the puppet opera Sleeping Rough by Roddy Ellias during the Music and Beyond festival in Ottawa.

She made her first comeback concert in France on May 16, 2019.