Mecca Russell, known professionally as Neffy, is a singer-songwriter from

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. In 2021, she won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest.

Career

Neffy was a musical child who sang frequently. She has described her father as the “epitome of a music encyclopedia" who taught her about R&B and soul. At age 12, Neffy's mother gave her her first guitar, which she taught herself to play. At age 13, she wrote her first song. She sang in a choir in high school which was called, "Magicals". From 2015 to 2020, she attended the

Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, commonly referred to as Lang, is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School. It is located on-campus in Greenwich Village in New York City on West 11th Street off Sixth Avenue ( ...

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 ...

. Before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Neffy performed over 100 concerts on the East Coast. In 2020, she won a grant from Emergent Seed, a DC arts organization, to support her music.

NPR Tiny Desk Contest

In 2021, Neffy submitted a video of her playing her original song "Wait Up," to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. Tiny Desk creator,

Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (born April 10, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He was the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and the co-creator of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, a series ...

, said, “Neffy’s song stood out amongst the thousands of 2021 Tiny Desk Contest entries as a universal cry to break free of constraints and celebrate nature's beauty. With an acoustic guitar and that uplifting voice, Neffy wowed our judges.” The judging panel consisted of Boilen,

Tobe Nwigwe Tobechukwu Dubem "Tobe" Nwigwe (pronounced "''toh-beh-CHOO-kwoo'' ''doo-BEM TOH-beh nuh-WEE-gweh"''; born March 8th, 1987), is an American rapper, singer and actor. Music career Beginning in August 2016, Nwigwe began posting an original song ...

Phoebe Bridgers Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter. Her indie folk music typically centers on acoustic guitar and Electronic music, electronic production, with melancholic lyrical themes. She has won four Grammy Aw ...

, and four other judges. Neffy previously entered the Tiny Desk Contest in 2018 and 2020. Neffy faced unique challenges winning the contest during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was able to film an NPR Tiny Desk set, but with only the

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online podcast and radio program hosted by Robin Hilton. It was created in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' then-director Bob Boilen and produced by Robin Hilton beginning in 2001. At first, ...

production team present as an audience. She has shared that the pandemic has been difficult for independent artists. In 2022, she released the song, “I Lost My Nerve” about these struggles.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neffy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Singers from Washington, D.C. Guitarists from Washington, D.C. 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American singers