2023 CONTEMPORARY ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR | Shakura S'Aida | | The JUNO Awards

Shakura S’Aida is an award-winning performer who has travelled the globe for more than two decades, connecting and inspiring audiences with her powerful vocals. An undeniable talent and an outspoken advocate for human rights and racial equality, her artistic work reflects that which impacts and connects us all: love, conflict, community, life, and death. “I believe we all have a responsibility to look after each other,” says the Toronto-based artist. “I see, create, and use music as a way to bring people together.”

A central figure in Toronto’s music scene, the Brooklyn-born, Swiss-raised entertainer has garnered not only an international recording and touring career but has shined on the theatre stage as star and creator of the four-woman tribute to Nina Simone, The Nina Project, and in roles on-screen including as Lena, member of the beloved “Jazzagals” in the acclaimed series Schitt’s Creek, and most recently as Cora Lewis, mother to Batwoman in DC Comics / Warner Brother’s hit series of the same name.