Adults - $29 | Student - $12
Reeny Smith is a talented, 23-year-old emerging artist from North Preston, Nova Scotia and has been singing and playing the piano since the age of five. She credits her inspiration for music from time spent with family and friends at her local church, Saint Thomas Baptist, where she plays piano and is a member of three choirs.
Her roots in music stem from an incredible gene pool of family musicians. Both Reeny's father and grandfather, Wallace Smith Sr. and Jr., are former members of one of Canada's
Premier Gospel bands, The Gospel Heirs. Her father is also the director of the award- winning Hallelujah Praise Choir and is the leader and founder of The Sanctified Brothers. Her uncles Carson and Murray Downey of the Carson Downey Band are also testaments of the great music legacy that she has to inspire her.
Reeny was selected for the Portia White Award for Excellence in Vocal Performance in 2011, along with a scholarship from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust recognizing her outstanding musical attributes. She has shared the stage with the incredible Dinuk Wijeratne to a sold out crow at the Music Room as part of the Prismatic International Festival and sang for the incoming Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia at his induction ceremony at Province House.
She has recently opened for Grammy Award Winner Lisa Fischer at The Rebecca Cohn and received a standing ovation at the sold out concert.
In 2011, Reeny won the African Nova Scotia Music Association (ANSMA) Up and Coming Artist Award, the Black Cultural Centre President's Award, and was selected to represent Nova Scotia at the Canada Winter Games as part of the national artist performing program.
In 2012, Reeny won the ANSMA Rising Star Award and enrolled in St. FX University's prestigious music arts program, majoring in jazz vocals. After hearing Reeny's demo CD, Laura (Lulu) Healy, Artistic Director of the Halifax Jazz Festival, stated that her vocals were 'incredible' and selected Reeny to perform a showcase that year. On March 7 Reeny won Artist of the Year at the 2015 ANSMA Awards and June 12 she won Casino Nova Scotia's Artist In Residence program.
Artist's website: www.iamreeny.com