Nona Hendryx / Nona's Cyborale Messengers
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant Recipient
Recipient Information
Location
New York, New York
Year of Award
2021
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Grant Amount
$39,395
About the Project
Hendryx (with percussionist, Will Calhoun and keyboardist Etienne Stadwijk) is commissioned by Central Square Theater (MA) to create music for a new play, "Young Nerds of Color". She will also write a stand-alone suite of compositions inspired by the project.
Residency Location
Cambridge, MA
About the Artist
In the spirit of two fisted political singer songwriters such as Nina Simone, and Joni Mitchell, Nona Hendryx tackles social issues, love and politics with a smoky vocal tessitura somewhere between funk and the end of the stratosphere. Hendryx’s legendary career spans six decades of sound and style evolution. Fans know her as a founding member of the girl group, Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles (with Sarah Dash, Cindy Birdsong and Patti LaBelle), known as “the Sweethearts of the Apollo Theatre” and inducted into the R&B Hall of Fame in 1999. In the 70s, the group morphed into the Rock & Funk Glam Diva's 'Labelle' with the #1 record, Lady Marmalade. Nona Hendryx emerged as the chief songwriter of the group’s socially conscious and illuminating message songs. If Labelle fans grieved the end of Labelle, Nona Hendryx fans welcomed a new one as the revolutionary art-rock, new-wave goddess embarked upon her own impressive Solo career, which spanned eight studio albums and engaged her with an impressive lineup of collaborators (Prince, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Bono and Cameo), resulting in top ten hits and a Grammy nomination (Rock This Houses with The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards on guitar).
Fast forwarding into the 20th and 21st century’s without losing a note (or gaining a pound) Nona Hendryx remains the Queen of Transformation: writing music for theatre BLUE, written and directed by Charles R. Wright for Arena Stage and the Roundabout theatre in NY being revived at The Apollo Theatre in the Spring; composing music for film (the Lee Daniels 2010 Oscar-nominated Precious); and producing and collaborating in the works of a new generation of artists as well as cowriting songs and appearing on the Terri Lyne Carrington Grammy Award winning, Mosaic Project with Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Diane Reeves and Sheila E). An activist and vocal supporter for women’s rights, social, political and criminal justice, she helped to raise funds and awareness of HIV/AIDS from the outbreak of the epidemic and still involved today. Dreaming of being an educator because of her English Teacher and mentor Mrs. Lottie Dinkins, Nona worked with education organizations supporting women in prison, a school in Chicago founded by Monica Haslip, and Little Black Pearl; she taught Stage Craft at The Clive Davis Recording Academy and founded in 2016 the nonprofit SisterSMATR.org to bridge gaps in Science, Math, Art, Technology and Robotics.