Feb. 8: Canadian jazz-pop singer Nikki Yanofsky is 17-years-old today.

Nicole "Nikki" is from Hampstead, Quebec, a Montreal suburb. She began her professional singing career by performing at the 2006 Montreal International Jazz Festival; the youngest performer ever to headline at this festival. She has returned to this festival each year since.

Yanofsky sang Canada's national anthem at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She also performed during the closing ceremonies and the Paralympic opening ceremony.

Nikki at Society of Singers

Yanofsky recorded the Ella Fitzgerald classic "Airmail Special" for Verve Records and it was released in June 2007 on the album We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song. Produced by Tommy LiPuma, this track made Yanofsky the youngest singer ever to record for Verve.

Nikki then recorded "Gotta Go My Own Way" in English and French for Walt Disney’s smash hit High School Musical 2. The track was included as bonus material on the worldwide release of the Blu-ray, DVD and Soundtrack CD.

Following that, she collaborated with Grammy Award-winning musicians Herbie Hancock and Will.i.am (from The Black Eyed Peas) to record a crossover version of the swing era hit "Stompin' at the Savoy." It was released on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's audio book, On the Shoulders of Giants.

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Photo by Jeff Lipsky

In September 2008, Yanofsky released her first full-length album, a live CD/DVD concert package entitled Ella... Of Thee I Swing. Supported by her production company, A440 Entertainment, Inc. and distributed in Canada and Japan by Universal Music, it garnered critical acclaim and earned her two Juno Award nominations in 2009: New Artist of the Year and Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. She also won Favourite Jazz Artist at the 2009 Canadian Independent Music Awards.

Songwriters Stephan Moccio and Alan Frew chose Yanofsky to sing CTV’s broadcast theme for the 2010 Winter Olympics, "I Believe," which hit the airwaves in late January 2010 and was played throughout the Olympics on all of CTV’s media partners.

Yanofsky recorded her first studio album with 14-time Grammy Award-winning producer Phil Ramone on Decca. Along with the album-release of "I Believe," it includes some of Yanofsky’s first original works—writing in collaboration with Jesse Harris as well as fellow Canadian songwriters Ron Sexsmith and Feist. It was released in April 2010.  

"I Believe" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100 on the week of February 27, 2010. This made her the first Canadian artist to have a number one song on that chart since "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne topped the chart in 2007.

In 2008, Yanofsky received the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy award from the Quebec Chapter of The Association of Fundraising Professionals. Over her career, she has helped raise over $10 Million for local, national and international charities. She is currently associated with The Montreal Children’s Hospital, The Children’s Wish Foundation and MusiCounts.

Photo by Justin Steyer

She has also lent her voice to oneXone, Leave Out Violence Everywhere (L.O.V.E.) and ORT.






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