Nashville, Tennessee is justifiably known as the world’s epicenter of country music, but it has produced at least one other star from a completely different genre – jazz pianist and singer Kandace Springs, whose natural gifts for lyricism and soulfulness have taken her humble start as a parking attendant and lounge pianist, to featured performer at major concert halls and festivals around the world, and recognition as one of the premier female artists of the Jazz/Soul genre.

Kandace’s journey to success has been helped along the way by people who recognized and nurtured the raw talent that she was born with- including Prince. But first and foremost among these is her father. Known to both friends and family as Scat, he made his living as a singer both with his own band in nightclubs, and as a backup singer for stars ranging from Aretha Franklin to Garth Brooks. He arranged for Kandace’s first piano lessons from his friend Reggie Wooten, of the renowned Wooten Brothers musical family. Kandace spent most of her high school years learning both jazz and classical standards with occasional lessons, but mostly on her own, by ear and intuition. She started wearing out records by Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and her first musical girl crush, Norah Jones. “When I heard Norah’s first album, that’s when I knew - I want to do what she does.”

But as the saying goes, easier said than done. Fresh out of high school, Kandace found herself working a job parking cars at a hotel in downtown Nashville, while singing and playing piano at night in the lounge upstairs. “Everybody in the music business probably passed by me at one time or another, but nobody ever stopped.” But once again, Scat jump started the wheels of progress. He passed her demo to Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, hitmaking songwriters and producers who had just years before discovered a 15-year-old Rihanna, signed her to their production company, and shepherded her rise to stardom. Within days of their hearing Kandace, a partnership was born that continues to this day.

Kandace soon found herself in front of the next person who would recognize her talent and pull her further up the mountainside: Don Was of Blue Note Records. “I auditioned in the Capitol Records building, on Nat King Cole’s piano. I was so nervous! I played my version of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’, and I didn’t even know that Don had produced that record! He told me it was the best version of the song he’d ever heard, and that just floored me.”

Kandace’s first single, “Love Got In The Way”, was a funk- flavored earworm that got her prime looks on national TV, including The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!; she also appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with Ghostface Killah. It was a strong start, but things were about to get even more interesting.

Enter the next person who would discover and propel Kandace to greater heights: Prince. He saw a video of Kandace covering his song “The Beautiful Ones”, and messaged her directly. A week later, incredibly, she found herself performing with him at Paisley Park for the 30th anniversary of the album Purple Rain. “It was like a dream; I’m still reliving it to this day.”

Prince told Kandace “that I needed to be true to myself, don’t listen to anybody else, just my own heart.” With those words in mind, she told Blue Note that she was going to make an album of acoustic-based, soulful jazz, whether they wanted it or not. Don Was got the message. He brought in Grammy winner Larry Klein to produce, and the result was Soul Eyes, the album that took Kandace onto the worldwide stage. It garnered 5-star reviews on three continents, with the Times of London enthusing, “Kandace Springs isn’t just a star. She’s an entire galaxy.”

Within months of its release, she found herself in front of audiences in London, Paris, and Tokyo, and sharing the stage with Sting and Jack White on Later With Jools Holland. And over the course of the next several years, and two more album releases, Kandace’s star only continued to grow. Among the highlights were:

• Guest performer on Daryl Hall’s Live From Daryl’s Place

• Performing with the late legend Roy Hargrove on her ballad “Unsophisticated”

• Headlining shows at the North Sea, Newport, and Monterey jazz festivals.

• Duetting with her idol Norah Jones on the classic standard “Angel Eyes”

• Her own hour-long PBS special, Live From The Kate

• Featured vocalist at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the Metropole Orchestra

• Winner Germany’s Deutscher Jazzpreis in 2020 for Best Jazz Vocal Album

• Sold out show at Carnegie Hall, New York in 2024

The pandemic, of course, had a huge impact on Kandace’s world. Unable to perform, she channeled her energies into restoring and selling vintage cars, another one of her passions. The time off gave her a new clarity on her career, and she knew what she had to do: record an album of all original songs as a memorial to her late father. The resulting album, Run Your Race, is the most personal and heartfelt of Springs’ career, and which she says is “absolutely the most personal record I’ve ever made, or probably ever will make.”

2025 will herald an exciting new chapter in Kandace Spring’s evolution as an artist, with the release of Lady In Satin, a loving tribute to Billie Holiday and her iconic 1958 record of the same name, performed by Kandace and the 60-piece Orquestra Clássica de Espinho. “It’s the first record I’ve made with an orchestra” says Kandace, “and it’s one of the most incredible musical experiences I’ve ever had. The moment I first sang with the orchestra, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it sounded, and even listening now, I still can’t believe it. And I can’t wait for people to hear it.”