Lana's biography by Séverine Mabille

"Where there are dreams, love and inspiration, you can't go wrong." Lana Gray's journey seems to have been informed by this thought from Ella Fitzgerald. But it takes time often - going against the grain sometimes - and taking many side roads before confronting her aspirations. 

Lana Gray came into the world in Senegal but for her "coming into the world" is not only a simple expression, it is literally that it is necessary to hear it: she was born in Africa of a Polynesian dancer mother, of a photographer father - surrounded by uncles singers and musicians - carrying Vietnamese, Italian, African, Corsican and British origins. In her voice, each of these cultures mixes, intertwines, and untangles to shape this singular voice oscillating between heartbreak and hope. 

From childhood, bathed in jazz, rhythm'n'blues, Tahitian and Polynesian melodies, she wanted to devote herself to singing and music. Despite the support of her teachers, her mother was opposed to this, wishing a more straightforward path for her daughter. After earning a master's degree in English, this wanderer stopped for a while in Dover - teaching French at the Grammar School for Girls - then left for Niger and Cameroon for seven years, where she immersed herself in the stories of griots, memory songs, rhythms struck from the ground and the murmur of the street. 

Back in France, she joins the Banque de France, where the artistic and cultural association offers several activities to its employees, including a jazz workshop led by the renowned double bass player, Patrick Laroche. The recognition is reciprocal and a professor - once again - encourages it to become professional. This time, Lana Gray follows the advice of his mentor, she takes singing lessons and diction with confirmed artists like Armande Altaï, Sara Lazarus and Mila Lumbroso, approaches the repertoire of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald or Shirley Horn...

In 2015, Lana Gray sets up a quartet with pianist Philippe Powell, drummer Thomas Delor and Patrick Laroche on double bass. They perform in various Parisian jazz clubs and are programmed in several festivals. The warm welcome of the public led Lana to record, 3 years later, a first EP of standards: "Introducing Lana Gray's Quartet".

In parallel, Lana studied jazz singing, improvisation and composition at the Bill Evans Piano Academy. The time of learning finally over, she multiplies collaborations with renowned musicians, each musical universe is a new territory to explore - and decides to write her first compositions including "The Colors Of My Soul" which will lead to the recording of her second CD with Latin swing accents, self-produced in 2020. With "No One's To Blame", Lana wanted a swinging atmosphere resembling big bands, except for a Latin track "The Banyan Tree", one of her 6 original compositions co-written with Alain Simonnet. This 3rd album also features 3 reinterpreted standards. If Lana sings only in English on this new opus, the artist often sings also in Brazilian, in French and even sometimes in Wolof choosing each language as a sensitive reminiscence of the multiple cultures which irrigate her music. Many sow small pebbles in order to find their way, Lana Gray marked hers of notes which, after a long journey, brought back it at home, where she sings: the scene.