Lauren Scales

Outstanding Jazz Ensemble—Many Rivers

Lauren Scales is a born-and-bred Detroiter with ties to NYC and is currently housed in Philadelphia. Her background is steeped in soul, jazz, and R&B. She began playing the piano at the age of 4, was writing songs by age 8, and singing professionally at 12.  Scales studied jazz voice at the University of Michigan and received her Master of Music degree in songwriting composition from New York University. She is an alumna of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program, the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, and the UNISA Jazz Vocal Competition.

A seasoned session musician, Scales can be found supporting others live and in-studio when not leading her own projects. Currently, she leads her band, The Whole Tones; is the lead vocalist with the progressive R&B group Valipala; and sings with the funk band Snack Cat. She is tremendously proud of the recently released Many Rivers album with collaborators Chris Grasso and Mike Flanagan on Truth Revolution Records, for which she contributed two original tunes, and she is happy with the positive reception it has received publicly and critically.