Whitney Shay

Whitney Shay (born September 16 ) is an American blues, soul, and R&B singer and songwriter. To date, Shay has released three albums including her 2012 debut issue, Soul Tonic.

She has won four San Diego Music Awards, including 'Best Artist of the Year' in 2019. Shay has cited Etta James as her biggest influence, Shay noted "I've done lots of weird things in my career... I jumped out of a cake, I got hired to sing 'Happy Birthday' and jump out of a cake. I've done a couple of jazz gigs at Asian grocery stores."

In 2017, she was voted the Blues Artist of the Year at the San Diego Music Awards. Shay signed a single-album contract with the Little Village Foundation, who issued her second album, A Woman Rules the World. It was produced by Kid Andersen. Blues Matters stated that Shay was "a future blues icon", while Elmore Magazine described her as "the epitome of a rising star." Shay was a 2019 Blues Music Award nominee, and collected the Best Blues Album and Artist of the Year titles at the 2019 San Diego Music Awards. Apart from ten original songs, Shay also included her versions of "Tell The Truth", written by the 5 Royales member, Lowman Pauling, and "I Never Meant to Love Him", penned by Ronald Clyde Carlson and Terri McFaddin, and originally recorded by Etta James. Shay was due to support her album on Ruf's annual Blues Caravan tour with Ryan Perry and Jeremiah Johnson, before the COVID-19 pandemic scuppered everyone's plans.

Normally performing around 200 concerts per year, Shay's schedule in 2019 and early 2020 incorporated dates in Brazil, Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Spain.

Her songs have been used on television and in film, including the syndicated NBC TV show, Timeless,

EPs Jam in the Van featuring Whitney Shay : Jam in the Van (2021)