Janiva Magness

Award-winning vocalist Janiva Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty and beauty born from her life experience. A charismatic performer known for her electrifying live shows, Magness is a gutsy and dynamic musical powerhouse. She received the coveted 2009 Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year and for Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, an honor she also received in 2006 and 2007. She has received eleven previous Blues Music Award nominations. Magness has been performing for almost three decades, logging thousands of miles on the road and appearing 150 nights a year at clubs, theatres and festivals all over the world.

Her rise to the top was far from easy. Born in Detroit, Magness was inspired by the blues and country she heard listening to her father’s record collection, and by the vibrant music of the city’s classic Motown sound. By her teenage years, though, her life was in chaos. She lost both parents to suicide by the age of 16 and lived on the streets, bouncing from one foster home to another. At 17, she became a teenage mother who gave up her baby daughter for adoption. One night in Minneapolis, an underage Magness sneaked into a club to see blues great Otis Rush, and it was there that she found her salvation and decided that the blues were her calling. Magness recalls, “Otis played as if his life depended on it. There was a completely desperate, absolute intensity. I knew, whatever it was, I needed more of it.” She began going to as many blues shows as possible, soaking up the sounds of her favorite artists, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins. She immersed herself in records by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and all the other R&B greats.

Listening to these blues and soul artists and watching them live, sparked Janiva and gave her life direction. Her first break came several years later, while working as an intern at a recording studio. She was approached by her boss to sing some supporting vocals on a track. Finding her voice, she soon began working regularly as a background singer.

By the early 1980s, Magness made her way to Phoenix and befriended Bob Tate, the musical director for the great Sam Cooke. With Tate’s mentoring, she formed her first band, Janiva Magness and the Mojomatics, in 1985 and before long the influential Phoenix New Times named her group the city’s Best Blues Band. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly began finding work. She recorded her second studio album, “It Takes One To Know One,” in 1997. After three more independent releases, Janiva signed with Northern Blues and recorded “Bury Him At The Crossroads” in 2004 and “Do I Move You?” in 2006.

Janiva Magness: Change In The Weather

Read "Change In The Weather" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
September 16, 2019

Janiva Magness makes no effort to hog the spotlight as she Sings John Fogerty and as a direct result of her generosity of spirit, Change In The Weather stands even more distinctly on its own terms as a formidable piece of work. In interpreting this selection of twelve songs by the titular leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grammy Award nominee and savvy studio collaborators (like Taj Mahal on “Don't You Wish It Was True") end up shedding some more ...

Album Review

Janiva Magness: Love Wins Again

Read "Love Wins Again" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
June 9, 2016

There are those whose course in life was altered as music intervened, taking them in another direction. Janiva Magness was headed down a long hard road, when, as a desolate teenager, snuck into a nightclub, and got blinded by the blues. There were the obligatory lean years of paying dues before releasing, “More Than Live" in 1992. Ten albums and twenty-odd years after that, Love Wins Again reveals the singer as a woman brimming with confidence and gratitude for the ...

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Album Review

Janiva Magness: The Devil is an Angel Too

Read "The Devil is an Angel Too" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 28, 2010

Just one listen to The Devil is an Angel Too, Janiva Magness' ninth album and second for Chicago's venerated blues label Alligator, immediately reveals why she's the Blues Music Awards' reigning “Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year" and “B.B. King Entertainer of the Year" (only the second female to cop the “Entertainer" honor--Koko Taylor was the first).For sure, Magness knows about the blues. Once a foster child deemed “at risk," Magness' musical talents illuminated her life's path; ...

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Album Review

Janiva Magness: Bury Him At The Crossroads

Read "Bury Him At The Crossroads" reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
September 9, 2004

The voice gets you right between the eyes. As her powerful interpretation of the blues sweeps you off your feet, Janiva Magness captures your heart and soul as well. She belts 'em out with convincing authority.

Her band provides a little bit country, a little bit traditional Delta blues, deeply passionate moments, and a little bit of modern chemistry. The singer clears the air with her riveting voice and forceful emphasis.

With languorous, back porch, sit-a-spell ...

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Album Review

Janiva Magness: My Bad Luck Soul

by Ed Kopp
January 1, 2000

The pliant voice of Detroit-born songstress Janiva Magness enhanced Kid Ramos' latest CD, so much so that I simply had to check out her new release My Bad Luck Soul. Glad I did, because this is a fine collection of guitar-centric jump and blues.Magness has relocated to the Left Coast and adopted the region's swinging blues style. Magness is an appealing vocalist capable of lusty passion (" It's Love Baby," “Happy Hour"), gutbucket growling ("My Bad Luck Soul," ...

Performance / Tour

Janiva Magness Celebrates New Release "Stronger for It" in Sellersville, PA

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
March 4, 2012

JANIVA MAGNESS CELEBRATES NEW RELEASE IN SELLERSVILLE!

Award-winning blues and soul vocalist Janiva Magness will celebrate the release of her new Alligator Records CD, Stronger for It, with a live performance at the Sellersville Theater in Sellersville on Sunday, April 8, 2012. A charismatic artist known for her electrifying live shows, Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today; her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty born from her life experience. Last year, Magness was ...
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Recording

Award-Winning Janiva Magness to Release "Stronger For It" March 13

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
March 4, 2012

On March 13, Alligator Records will release Stronger For It, the powerful and stunning new release from award-winning vocalist (and songwriter) Janiva Magness. Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty born from her life experience. Through her passionate vocals and, for the first time, through her own original songs, Magness, with Stronger For It, delivers the most moving and intimate album of her career.

Produced by Dave ...
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