Becca Stevens (born June 14, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk.
Early life and education
Stevens was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the youngest of three children of William Stevens, a composer of religious choral music, and Carolyn Dorff, a singer. As a child Stevens performed and toured in her family's children's music group, the Tune Mammals.[1] When she was ten years old she and her mother starred in a year-long national tour of the musical The Secret Garden.[1][2] After her parents' separation she attended the Peddie School in New Jersey for 9th and 10th grades.[1][2] She finished high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she studied classical guitar; at this time she also sang in her brother's jazz rock band, Gomachi. After high school she spent a year with Gomachi before attending college at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where she received a degree in vocal jazz and composition.[1][3][4]
One track on David Crosby's Michael League-produced Lighthouse album featured Crosby, League, Stevens, and Michelle Willis (with Bill Laurance on piano) performing "By the Light of Common Day", a song written by Stevens and Crosby. The quartet became The Lighthouse Band that performed on Crosby's album Here If You Listen.[8]
Jazz vocalist Kurt Elling listed her as one of his five favorite jazz vocalists[9] and music critic Ted Gioia listed her albums Weightless (2011) and Perfect Animal (2015) among the one hundred best albums of the corresponding years.[10][11]
Stevens's album Regina (2017) was produced by Michael League and Troy Miller and received a five-star review from Down Beat magazine, which called it "the most spectacular of albums", while BBC Radio 2 praised the album saying, "Lyrically, the album is astounding".
