Michelle Walker

Michelle Walker (born January 9, 1967) is a jazz vocalist, song writer and arranger based in New York city. She started her music career in the Washington, DC area where she was nominated numerous times for a WAMA award (Washington Area Music Association) for best jazz vocalist, best debut album of the year and best jazz group. She has toured in concert in the United States, Canada, Israel, England, Russia and The Netherlands. She has performed in concert, most notably with Mark Murphy. She has performed in a number of jazz festivals either sharing the stage or opening in concert for vocalist Rene Marie, Carol Sloane, Winton Marsalis, Chris Botti, George Benson, Sachal Vasandani, Kenny Washington and Spyro Gyra. Michelle has been described by the Washington Post as a "...sultry and seductive singer"

Walker was born in Baumholder, Germany the fifth of six children to Captain Adolphus Walker, Jr. (US ARMY) and Linnie Mae Bardwell. Walker attended a specialized school for the arts, studying music, dance and theater. At the age of sixteen, she moved to Washington, DC where she remained studying classical voice and jazz vocal performance at the University of Maryland, College Park until she moved to New York City in 2007. Walker also studied voice privately and through master classes taught by Betty Carter, Mark Murphy, Jay Clayton and Jon Hendricks. Walker has also studied jazz voice at Stanford University and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands under teachers Madeline Eastman, Nancy Marano, Christian McBride, Jeff Clayton, Benny Green (pianist), Steve Davis (trombonist) and Sam Rivers.