Vanessa Collier

Vanessa N. Collier is an American blues, funk, and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter. She has been nominated for twelve Blues Music Awards, including B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, and Horn Player of the Year, and has won four of them (Horn Player of the Year in 2019, 2020, and 2024 and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year in 2022).

Her influences include Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, The Wood Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ray Charles, Snooks Eaglin, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Professor Longhair, and Cannonball Adderley. Collier is a Selmer endorsed woodwind artist.

Life and career Collier was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Columbia, Maryland. Her interest in blues music started at the age of 11, when she played a solo on her saxophone over a blues progression in jazz band. At Berklee's Commencement Concert, Collier was invited to play alongside Annie Lennox and Willie Nelson. Collier also worked with Kathy Mattea, Bill Cooley, Patrice Rushen, and many more visiting artists during her four years studying at Berklee. She then toured in the U.S. and Turkey, backing Joe Louis Walker during 2012 and 2013.

In 2014, Collier issued her debut solo album, Heart Soul & Saxophone, on Phenix Fire Records. The work drew comparisons to artists including the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Bonnie Raitt. It had eight Collier compositions, plus cover versions of U2's "When Love Comes to Town"; Deadric Malone's "You're Gonna Make Me Cry"; and the Sister Rosetta Tharpe penned song "Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air". The album was co-produced by Collier and Kevin Houston and her studio musicians included Charles Hodges on keyboards, Laura Chavez on guitar, TK Jackson on drums, and Daniel McKee on bass. The release saw her tour in 12 countries, alternating between tour legs in Europe as a featured artist with Ruf’s Blues Caravan, returning to the U.S. and Canada with her own band, and a tour in Brazil with Fred Sunwalk and The Dog Brothers.

Collier was nominated in 2017 for a Blues Music Award in the 'Instrumental – Horn Player of the Year' category. She also won first place in the 'Lyrics Only' category of the 2017 USA Songwriting Competition. She undertook the second leg of her 2017 European tour with Ruf Records' Blues Caravan. Collier also teaches around 30 students at her own studio and is active in the Blues Foundation's 'Blues in the Schools' programs.

In 2019, she was again nominated in two categories at the Blues Music Awards; 'Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year' and 'Instrumental - Horn' for the second year in a row. On May 9, 2019, she won the latter award,

In August 2020, Vanessa released her fourth solo album, Heart on the Line, on Phenix Fire Records.

Discography Year Title Record label 2014 Heart Soul & Saxophone Phenix Fire Records 2017 Meeting My Shadow Ruf Records 2018 Blues Caravan 2017 (with Big Daddy Wilson and Si Cranstoun) Ruf Records 2018 Honey Up Phenix Fire Records 2020 Heart on the Line Phenix Fire Records 2024 Do It My Own Way Phenix Fire Records