Cynthia Erivo - "I'm Here" & "I Did Something Bad"

In honor of Black History Month all the posts for this month will feature artists of color.

Cynthia Erivo received a 2016 Tony Award for her Broadway debut as Celie in The Color Purple as well as the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. This is where most people in the US discovered her. Born to Nigerian parents in Stockwell, South London, she attended La Retraite R.C Girls School then began a music psychology degree at the University of East London. However a year into her degree, she applied to, and subsequently trained at, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

European theater credits include The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Sister Act, I Can’t Sing!, Dessa Rose, Henry IV, Marine Parade, I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky, The Three Musketeers, The Princess of Spainand A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In addition to her stage career, Erivo is a songwriter and wrote the song, "Fly Before You Fall," for the feature film Beyond the Lights.

Her voice is a rocket. It soars high and easy, with power propelling it to places that most people only dream of going. She knows how to delicately touch a note, only to roar moments later. This dynamic control and range give her the emotional flexibility to captivate her audiences.

So today, with guts and gusto I choose Cynthia Erivo’s "I'm Here" & her cover (with Shoshana Bean) of "I Did Something Bad" as my, go one and burn it down, make diamonds from the ashes, use the flames for fabric, songs for a, yours is the love that is all around, there are stars in the sky if you’ll just look up, miracles falling in your lap like daisies, Thursday.