Janine Elizabeth Cunningham (born 23 May 1983), better known as Jah9, is a Jamaican singer and also a yoga teacher.

Biography

Jah9 was born in

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

in Saint James, Jamaica. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother was a teacher and social worker. She spent much of her childhood in Falmouth, Trelawny. In 1991 the family moved to

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. After a period at the university she commenced realizing her musical passion. Her music is often described as "jazz on dub", because her singing voice is influenced by

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

and

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

, partly combined with the

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

sound of

Sizzla Miguel Orlando Collins (born 17 April 1976), known by his stage name Sizzla Kalonji or Sizzla, is a Jamaican reggae musician. He is one of the most commercially and critically successful contemporary reggae artists and is noted for his high num ...

and the more potent dub rhythms similar to those of

Augustus Pablo Horace Michael Swaby (21 June 1953 – 18 May 1999), Thompson, Dave (2002). ''Reggae & Caribbean Music''. Backbeat Books. , pp. 200–202. also known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub composer, performer, record produc ...

. In 2013 her first album ''New Name'' appeared. She has recorded three albums for VP Records including ''New Name'' (2013), ''9'' (2016) and the recently released ''Note to Self'' on March 13, 2020.

Discography

Albums

* '' New Name '' (2013) * ‘’9’’ (2016) * ‘’Mad Professor Meets Jah9 - In The Midst Of The Storm’’ (2017) * ‘’Feelings‘’ (2018)(mini-album, vinyl only) * ‘’Note To Self’’ (2020)

References

1983 births Living people Jamaican dub musicians 21st-century Jamaican women singers People from Montego Bay VP Records artists {{Jamaica-musician-stub