Nikki Yanofsky is a 18‐year‐old musical prodigy. Since her debut at the 2006 Montreal International Jazz Festival, where she won the hearts of the 100,000+ people in the audience, Nikki has never looked back.
Accomplishments early in her career were plentiful, including recordings, performances and accolades. At 13, she was the youngest singer ever on a Verve Records Release with “Airmail Special,” released on the Ella Fitzgerald tribute album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song. On her 14th birthday, she began a collaboration with Marvin Hamlisch with a performance at Carnegie Hall and continued on a North American tour performing with many esteemed orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra. She recorded “Stompin’ at the Savoy” with Grammy Award‐winning artists Herbie Hancock and Will.i.am for Kareem Abdul‐Jabbar’s audio book, On the Shoulders of Giants. She even reached into the realm of pop music, recording “Gotta Go My Own Way” for Disney’s DVD release of their smash hit High School Musical 2 as well as recording the opening title for PBS’ current version of The Electric Company with renowned hip‐hop artist Wyclef Jean. She was a featured judge on the youth talent show The Next Star in Canada and was a featured performer on the PBS show From the Top in the US. All of these performances culminated in the 2008 release Ella… Of Thee I Swing – a live CD/DVD package recorded in Montreal. Garnering critical acclaim and certified gold, it earned Nikki two Juno nominations: New Artist of the Year and Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.
In 2010, Nikki was a featured artist at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games held in Vancouver. Performing at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics as well as the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, she was introduced to a world‐wide audience. Nikki was also chosen to sing “I Believe,” the anthem for Canadian spirit during the Winter Olympic Games, which quickly became a #1 hit in Canada. The single had the highest first‐week sales of any Canadian artist in SoundScan history and was certified quintuple‐platinum, making Nikki the youngest artist to ever achieve this sales level. As “I Believe” was at the top of the iTunes Canada Pop Singles charts, Ella... of Thee I Swing went back to the top of the iTunes Canada Jazz Albums Chart and “I Got Rhythm” went to the top of the iTunes Canada Jazz Singles Chart. This was the first time since the inception of digital downloading that any artist has held these #1 positions concurrently.
Throughout her career, Nikki has used her budding fame to help the underprivileged – becoming an ambassador for the Montreal Children’s Hospital, The Children's Wish Foundation and MusiCounts. Nikki also recently joined her fellow Canadian artists in recording K’Naan’s hit song “Wavin’ Flag” for Young Artists for Haiti. Being sold on iTunes as a single and video, the proceeds have directly impacted the lives of children, families and communities in Haiti through the relief and rebuilding efforts of Free the Children, War Child Canada and World Vision Canada. The local, national and international charity events that Nikki has been involved with to date have raised well over $10 million.