Meredith Ezinma Ramsay (born January 11, 1991), known professionally as Ezinma, is an American violinist, model, music educator and film composer from

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

. Ramsay gained viral fame in 2017 by performing a violin cover of American rapper

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

's hit "

Mask Off "Mask Off" is a song by American rapper Future from his eponymous fifth studio album (2017). The track was later released as the second single after initially charting as an album track. "Mask Off" was produced by Metro Boomin, and written by Fut ...

", and for her performance during

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's 2018 Coachella performance. In 2020 she debuted as a solo musician under Universal Music Classics.

Life and career

Early life

Ezinma was born in

, to a Guyanese father and German-American mother. Her father is a professor of

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, while her mother is a creative non-fiction author and works as an English professor. Ezinma started playing the violin at age three, and continued to play throughout school. By junior high school, she felt alone as she was often the only black classical musician onstage, and did not meet another black string musician until she was 13. As a child, she listened to a wide range of music, including her funk, reggae, jazz, and Caribbean

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due to her father, and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

through her mother. Ezinma attended the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

, where she originally studied

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, before switching degrees to music. At university, Ezinma formed a string and piano trio, and was mentored by members of the

Chiara String Quartet The Chiara String Quartet was an internationally performing professional string quartet based in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Group was the Quartet-in-residence at the School of Music in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Blodgett Artists-in-R ...

. In 2012, Ezinma moved from Nebraska to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to study at

Mannes School of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a music conservatory in T ...

, the classical division of

the New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

, which helped her see outside the rules of classical music. Ezinma began releasing music featuring both her violin performance and vocals, and intended to release these songs on an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

called ''I Am Ezinma'' in 2016.

Viral popularity

Ezinma began posting videos of her performing violin covers of songs to social media in 2016. Her first cover was a 15 second clip of

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

's "

Hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...

" posted to

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. During this time, Ezinma continued to release original music, such as "Elevate Me" in 2016, and the instrumental "Give It Up" in 2017. In April 2017, Ezinma uploaded a cover of

" as a part of a viral challenge featuring instrumental covers of the song. Ezinma's version gained her millions of views across Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, and led to a sudden increase in her popularity. American musician

took notice of Ezinma's videos on social media (even before her version of "Mask Off"), and invited her to perform as a part of

's 2018 Coachella performance in April 2018. Between 2017 and 2018, Ezinma appeared in modelling campaigns for

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and

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Debut

In early 2019, Ramsay signed to Universal Music Classics. She plans to release a classical-fusion album with hip-hop/trap influences in 2020, entitled ''Key of Black Minor'', to be released alongside a documentary of her life. Ramsay has worked as a film composer, scoring the soundtracks to the documentary film ''The Times of Bill Cunningham'' (2020), and the

Oluniké Adeliyi Oluniké Adeliyi (born January 5, 1977) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the 2010 horror film ''Saw 3D'' and starred as Leah Kerns in the television series '' Flashpoint''. Early life Adeliyi was born in Brampton, Ontario, of Jamaican-Nig ...

-starring short film ''Promise Me'' (2020). In August, Ezinma released her debut single "Beethoven Pleads the Fifth". Ezinma partnered with Wide Open School, Re-Create (a program to provide educational content for public elementary schools in New York) and

After-School All-Stars After-School All-Stars (ASAS) is a national non-profit organization that partners with schools across the United States to expand the learning day for low-income children. It provides free after-school programs to over 118,000 students at schoo ...

to create violin-related educational content for schools and after-school programs in the United States.

Personal life

Ezinma's parents divorced when she was young, and she has two brothers and two sisters. Her mother, Lisa Knopp, is an author of creative non-fiction books, and works as a professor at the

. She is an honorary member of

Sigma Gamma Rho Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on November 12, 1922. The organization was formed as a sorority in 1922, by seven African American women in Indianapolis, Indiana. At its i ...

sorority.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Guest appearances

References

{{Authority control 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century American classical violinists 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century American classical composers American women violinists African-American violinists African-American classical composers African-American women classical composers American women classical composers American women film score composers African-American film score composers African-American women musicians American film score composers American hip-hop musicians American women hip-hop musicians Crossover (music) Decca Records artists Mannes School of Music alumni Musicians from Lincoln, Nebraska Universal Music Group artists University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni American people of German descent American people of Guyanese descent 1991 births Living people