b. India Arie Simpson, 3rd October 1976, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
India Arie was born to parents from Memphis and Detroit.
The family moved to Atlanta when India was 13 and after high school she began playing guitar at the encouragement of her mother.
Involvement in the promising Atlanta urban music scene led to the formation of an artist's collective called Groovement and an independent label, EarthShare, which released a compilation CD featuring India's first songs.
A second-stage slot on the 1998 Lilith Fair tour garnered major-label interest, but Arie eventually signed with Motown Records after being assured of having full artistic control.
Work on 'Acoustic Soul' dragged out over nearly two years, however, the album was well received by soul fans all over the World.
Spike Lee's movie soundtrack, to his vehicle 'Bamboozled', previewed several tracks from the album in 2000.
'Acoustic Soul' was a successful combination of classic soul and modern hip-hop style productions.
The album's first single, 'Video,' received strong radio and club play.
The track sampled the seventies funk outfit Brick.
'Acoustic Soul' was released on 27th March, 2001.
India says she is looking to record with Musiq Soulchild.
In 2002, India contributed to the Mel Gibson movie 'We Were Soldiers' with the track 'Good Man'.
'Voyage To India' followed in 2002 and contained the single 'Little Thing', with the album 'Testimony, Vol.1 Life And Relationships' following in 2006 and 'Testimony, Vol.1 Life And Politics' following in 2009.
Albums:
Acoustic Soul (Uptown/Univers Records 2001)
Voyage To India (Motown Records 2002)
Testimony Vol 1 Life and Relationships (Motown Records 2006)
Testimony Vol 2, Love and Politics (Republic Records 2009)
Songversation (Motown Records 2013)
Christmas With Friends (Motown Records 2015)
Worthy (Soulbird Records 2019)
