Ysaye Maria Barnwell

Ysaye Maria Barnwell (Born: February 28, 1946) is an American singer and composer born in New York City. Barnwell became the 15th member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, she was in the group from 1979 to 2013.

In addition to writing many of the group's songs, she conducts music workshops around the United States, UK, Canada and Australia, including a workshop she created called "Building a Vocal Community: Singing in the African American Tradition." In 1977, she founded the Jubilee Singers, a choir at All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Barnwell has been known for her popular songs that she wrote and sang with Sweet Honey in the Rock, such as... Breaths, On Children, More Than A Paycheck, Spiritual, Wanting Memories, No Mirrors In My Nana's House, Would You Harbor Me, Prayer, We Are, Sound-bite From Beijing, Hope, Let Us Rise In Love, Chinese Proverb, and Indaba: We Believe In You.

Early life and education Barnwell was raised in New York City in Harlem and later in Jamaica, Queens. The daughter of a violinist, Barnwell began her 15 year study of the violin with her father when she was only 2 and a half years old.

Barnwell earned bachelor's and master's degrees (1967 and 1968) in speech pathology from State University of New York at Geneseo, and a PhD (1975) in speech pathology from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1981, she also earned a Master of Science in Public Health from Howard University. She produced Sweet Honey in the Rock's 1998 25th anniversary album...Twenty-Five..., and edited Continuum: The First Songbook of Sweet Honey in the Rock which was released in 1999.

Barnwell's acting credits include a principal role on a television series called A Man Called Hawk; she also appeared in the 1998 film Beloved. She released a solo recording of stories and song, Um Humm, in 2000.

She wrote a children's book with CD, No Mirrors in My Nana's House, Released in 1998. A second children's book and CD set was released in March 2008: We Are One.

Barnwell was named Ysaye by her father, after the great Belgian violinist, Eugène Ysaÿe.