Shola Adisa-Farrar (born January 23) is an American singer and actress of Jamaican descent, currently residing in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. Adisa-Farrar has performed internationally, and she works as a US Music Ambassador with the

US Embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

, Africa Regional Services Department in Paris.

Early life

Shola Adisa-Farrar was born in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She is the daughter of Jamaican professor and writer, Opal Palmer Adisa. Adisa-Farrar began singing and acting at the age of eight when she attended The American Youth Conservatory Theatre in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In high school, she was a member of the Oakland Youth Chorus. Adisa-Farrar attended

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in New York City, where she majored in music and earned her degree in 2006.

Career

In 2006, Shola Adisa-Farrar appeared in seven out of ten episodes of

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's '' Ultimate Hustler'' reality TV show featuring

Damon Dash Damon Anthony Dash (born May 3, 1971) is an American entrepreneur and record executive. He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records with Jay-Z and Kareem Burke in 1994, and co-founded the fashion retailer Rocawear with the former in 1999. Early life ...

. Adisa-Farrar moved to Paris at the beginning of 2011 and there she began her musical career. After singing at Le Reservoir in Paris on Sundays for the Jazz brunch, she was approached by Hot Casa Record's co-founder Julien Lebrun to create an album. Lebrun connected her to French pianist Florian Pellissier, and the two spent the next two years composing and creating what would be Shola's debut album, ''Lost Myself''. The album reached the number-one position on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

France

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

album chart in the first week after release. The hit song from the album "Evolution" has played on airwaves in France, US and the United Kingdom and appears on Episode 6 of

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Series ''

She's Gotta Have It ''She's Gotta Have It'' is a 1986 American black-and-white comedy drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Spike Lee in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell ...

''.

Discography

Albums

* ''Lost Myself'' (2016)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adisa-Farrar, Shola 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 1985 births 21st-century American actresses American expatriates in France American musicians of Jamaican descent Living people Singers from Oakland, California