Nakia Reynoso (born February 20, 1975), known professionally as Nakia, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor living in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. He is a native of

Fort Payne, Alabama Fort Payne is a city in and county seat of DeKalb County, in northeastern Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 14,877. European-American settlers gradually developed the settlement around the former fort. It grew rap ...

Professional background

Nakia moved to Austin in 2002 from Chicago, where he had been working as an intern for Aware Records. After arriving in Austin, Nakia began to pursue a solo career but was first noticed by

Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

guitarist and co-founder, Miles Zuniga. Zuniga recruited Nakia to join his rock and roll lounge act side project, The Small Stars. Each member of The Small Stars had an alter-ego and complete back story. Nakia created the character, "Vic Odin", who was described as a sleazy, double-crossing, British manager. He left the band in 2006. In 2006, Nakia performed in theatrical productions of ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...

'' and '' Rocky Horror Show''. He also had a role in the independent film ''Lone Star Blues''. Nakia soon became a featured singer at many local Austin venues and a favorite among many Austin music critics.

Recording background

;''Playing the Cards'' In winter 2007, Nakia released the EP ''Playing The Cards.'' He formed the band Southern Cousins and the band began receiving positive reviews of their live shows. The band would go on to share stages with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

and

BB King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shim ...

and perform at events such as South Padre International Music Festival and

Austin City Limits Music Festival The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-base ...

. ;''Water to Wine'' On April 14, 2009, Nakia release his first full-length album, ''Water To Wine''. Produced by Mac McNabb, the album features songs written by Nakia,

Michael Fracasso Michael Fracasso is a singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. His music spans country and rock as he sings in a high tenor that evokes the "high lonesome" sound of early country. He was a regular performer at the Cornelia Street Cafe's Mond ...

, and Monte Warden. The album was well received by local and national media. ;''Street Songs of Love'' In November 2009,

Alejandro Escovedo Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and singer, who has been recording and touring since the late 1970s. His primary instrument is the guitar. He has played in various rock genres, including punk ...

invited Nakia to participate in his "Sessions on South Congress" performances at the Continental Club in

. Nakia went on to record backing vocals for ''Street Songs of Love'', featuring songs that were originally presented during the Continental Club sessions. This collaborative effort provided an opportunity for Nakia to work with rock producer

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

. The album was released in June 2010. ;''Drown in the Crimson Tide'' It was announced in February 2013 that Nakia would be releasing a new EP on March 5, 2013. The record features songs written with

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, Aris Archontis,

Barry Goldberg Barry Joseph Goldberg (born December 25, 1942) is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's ve ...

Bleu Bleu or BLEU may refer to: * the French word for blue * '' Three Colors: Blue'', a 1993 movie * BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy), a machine translation evaluation metric * Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union * Blue cheese, a type of cheese ...

, and Brian West. Three of the tracks were produced by

and

Johnny Lee Schell Johnny Lee Schell is an American guitarist and songwriter. In the late 1960s, he first recorded with producer Norman Petty in Group Axis. In the 1970s, he joined Amarillo TX southern rock band, Baby. Since his professional debut, he has played wi ...

Media appearances

In April 2011, Nakia announced that he had auditioned for the American edition of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'',

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's new singing competition. This was confirmed when NBC released two separate commercials featuring Nakia's "Blind Audition." Nakia's hope in auditioning for the series was to be able to pay back his partner for supporting his music career. Nakia chose Cee Lo Green to be his coach after singing his song, Forget You. Nakia also moved on from the Battle Rounds to the Live Shows after beating Tje Austin. Cee Lo chose him to be a quarter-finalist. On June 22, 2011, Nakia was voted off the show, finishing in seventh place after being beaten by

Vicci Martinez Vicci Martinez (born September 21, 1984) is an American singer/songwriter and actress from Tacoma, Washington. She came in joint third on NBC's singing competition series '' The Voice'' in 2011. She released her 2012 album with Republic Records ...

in the semi-finals. On June 28, 2011, Nakia was a guest on Kevin Smith's Plus One Per Diem internet radio show.

''Performances on The Voice''

Discography

* 2007: ''Playing the Cards'' * 2009: ''Water to Wine'' * 2010: ''Street Songs of Love'' (collaboration with

) * 2013: ''Drown in the Crimson Tide''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakia 1975 births Living people 21st-century American singers American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers American rock musicians Place of birth missing (living people) American soul singers American LGBT musicians The Voice (franchise) contestants Male actors from Austin, Texas Musicians from Austin, Texas Singer-songwriters from Texas 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Alabama