Nnenna Freelon was born on July 28,1954 and is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger.
11 Facts About Nnenna Freelon
2.
Freelon was born Chinyere Nnenna Pierce to Charles and Frances Pierce in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was raised.
3.
Nnenna Freelon has a brother Melvin and a sister named Debbie.
4.
Nnenna Freelon suggests that her influences included several "not famous people" and well as Nina Simone and Billy Eckstine, whose records her parents played at home.
5.
In 1990, Nnenna Freelon went to the Southern Arts Federation's jazz meeting and met Ellis Marsalis.
6.
Nnenna Freelon has worked with Ray Charles, Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall, Ramsey Lewis, George Benson, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, and Terence Blanchard.
7.
Nnenna Freelon has performed at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Ellington Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater, Montreux Jazz Festival, John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
8.
Nnenna Freelon is the national spokesperson for the National Association of Partners in Education, an organization with over 400,000 school and community partnership programs across the United States, dedicated to arts education.
9.
Nnenna Freelon has maintained ties to her hospital-work as her jazz career has flourished.
10.
Nnenna Freelon emphasizes the importance of parents singing to children to enhance brain development.
11.
Deen Nnenna Freelon is an associate professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studying social media and politics.