Karen Briggs

Karen Briggs (born August 12, 1963), also known as the "Lady in Red", is an American violinist. Born in Manhattan to a family of musicians, Briggs started playing the violin at age 12 and committed to playing professionally at age 15. Briggs joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra while still in college, but grew discontented with performing classical music and left the orchestra after four years. Since then, she has performed predominantly in the jazz and contemporary instrumental genres.

Best known for spending thirteen years on tour with contemporary instrumental musician Yanni, Briggs received the "Lady in Red" moniker while featuring as a soloist on Yanni's Live at the Acropolis tour. After parting with Yanni in 2004, she toured with other groups, including the short-lived jazz fusion group Vertú. Briggs has performed at such locations as Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and has performed or collaborated with Dave Grusin, Diana Ross, the Wu Tang Clan, En Vogue, and Chaka Khan.

Early life Briggs was born in Manhattan, New York City, on August 12, 1963, to Frank Briggs, Jr. and Ruthie Powell. Her father played saxophone and sang in a Doo-wop group, her grandfather played trumpet and piano, and many other members of her family were either musicians or singers. The family lived in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood and Englewood, New Jersey before moving to Portsmouth, Virginia, where Karen grew up. Briggs began taking violin lessons at twelve years old, having developed a talent for playing violin pieces by ear.

Briggs was the head of her class orchestra as a teenager and performed at a competition at Woodrow Wilson High School. She also played alongside her father and his colleagues, who were part of the local jazz scene in Hampton Roads, Virginia. With their encouragement, she decided at age 15 to become a professional jazz violinist. She was the first member of her immediate family to attend college. Briggs performed with Yanni for thirteen years, including the Live at the Acropolis, Tribute, and Ethnicity tours. In a 2004 interview with The HistoryMakers, Briggs reminisced that she might have been more commercially successful if she had parted with Yanni after Live at the Acropolis to pursue her solo career. She has performed at the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2001, 2004, and 2007, and performed at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club in 2010. Her performance in the KC Jazz Club was in support of the album Soulchestral Groove, which Briggs released independently in 2009. It is Briggs' third album, after releases of the self-titled,Karen in 1992 and Amazing Grace in 1996. Other artists that Briggs has collaborated with include the Wu Tang Clan, En Vogue, Diana Ross, Ledisi, Loose Ends, Orquestra Aragon, Kirk Franklin, Naseer Shamma, and Chaka Khan.

Discography

Solo Karen (1992) Amazing Grace (1996) Soulchestral Groove (2009)

With Vertú Vertú (1999)