Karen Briggs
Encyclopedia
Karen Briggs, is an American
violin
ist. She was born in New York City
and grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia
. Taking violin lessons from an early age, Briggs attended Norfolk State University
after graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School
in 1981. There, she majored in music education
and mass media
. By 1983, she was playing with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
, where she remained for the next four years.
In 1987, she returned to New York City
, where she won amateur night at the famous Apollo Theater
four times. After marrying in 1988 and moving to Los Angeles
, Briggs embarked on her first professional tour with Soul II Soul
and toured throughout America
and Japan
.
In 1991, Briggs auditioned for Yanni
, the contemporary instrumental keyboard composer. She spent the next thirteen years touring and recording with him, and can be seen on his live music videos including Yanni Live at the Acropolis
, Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall
, and in Tribute
performed both at the Taj Mahal
in Agra, India and in the Forbidden City
, in China
. From her appearance on these Yanni
videos, she was nicknamed "The Lady in Red." The Ethnicity
tour of 2004 marked her last with Yanni.
Briggs also made her Carnegie Hall
debut in 1994, performing with pianist Dave Grusin
. She has also performed with a number of other artists over the years, including Stanley Clarke
, the Wu Tang Clan, En Vogue
and Chaka Khan
, Wynton Marsalis
, Benise, Marla Gibbs
, Kenny Loggins
, Ashley Maher
, Taliesin Orchestra
, Patrice Rushen
and Diana Ross
. Her career includes appearances in many TV/movie soundtracks as well as various other concerts (ranging from Carnegie Hall
to Harlem's Apollo Theater
to The Kennedy Center) and TV shows. She also had a cameo appearance in the 1999 motion picture Music of the Heart
.
Briggs has a natural ability to improvise in various styles of music, such as symphonic orchestra, Latin orquesta, R & B, gospel, jazz ensemble and even rap. Additional exposure to genres of Caribbean, Afro Latin, Pop and Middle Eastern musical idioms has allowed her to evolutionize her identifiable style.
Briggs took part in a documentary titled "Live Music, Community & Social Conscience" while part of Geri Allen
's ensemble at the Frog Island Music Festival. She is also featured in "The History Makers" .
In 2002 Briggs recorded some music for the Hidden Beach Recordings
label on a CD titled Unwrapped Vol. 2, including her rendition of a popular rap song from the artist Coolio
, "Gangsta's Paradise
", among other songs that Briggs contributed to this project.
Since that time, Karen has independently released a third project entitled, "Soulchestral Groove" (2009)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist. She was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
. Taking violin lessons from an early age, Briggs attended Norfolk State University
Norfolk State University
Norfolk State University is a four-year, state-supported, coed, liberal arts, historically black university located in Norfolk, Virginia. It is member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and the Virginia High-Tech Partnership.-Academics:...
after graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School
Woodrow Wilson High School (Portsmouth, Virginia)
Woodrow Wilson High School is a public high school located in Portsmouth, Virginia. It is administered by Portsmouth City Public Schools. The school colors are royal blue, orange, and white, and the nickname is the Presidents.- History :...
in 1981. There, she majored in music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
and mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. By 1983, she was playing with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is an American regional orchestra in the Hampton Roads metro area. The orchestra performs at several venues in Virginia, including Chrysler Hall in Norfolk and the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News....
, where she remained for the next four years.
In 1987, she returned to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she won amateur night at the famous Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
four times. After marrying in 1988 and moving to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Briggs embarked on her first professional tour with Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
and toured throughout America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
In 1991, Briggs auditioned for Yanni
Yanni
Yanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...
, the contemporary instrumental keyboard composer. She spent the next thirteen years touring and recording with him, and can be seen on his live music videos including Yanni Live at the Acropolis
Yanni Live at the Acropolis
Yanni Live at the Acropolis, is the name of both an album and video by contemporary instrumental musician Yanni, recorded live at the Herodes Atticus Theatre, Athens, Greece, on September 25, 1993, and released in 1994. . This album peaked at #1 on "Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart and at...
, Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall
Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall
Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall is an intimate concert presentation which features the majestic Royal Albert Hall organ in performance with Yanni's very own symphony orchestra. See...
, and in Tribute
Tribute (Yanni album)
Tribute, recorded live at the Taj Mahal, India, and the Forbidden City, Beijing, China from March to May, 1997. . This album peaked at #1 on "Billboard's "Top New Age Album" chart at #21 on the "Billboard 200" chart in the same year....
performed both at the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
in Agra, India and in the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
, in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. From her appearance on these Yanni
Yanni
Yanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...
videos, she was nicknamed "The Lady in Red." The Ethnicity
Ethnicity (Yanni album)
Ethnicity, is Yanni's 13th studio album, released in 2003, extending his "One World, One People" philosophy. It peaked at #27 on Billboard's "Top Internet Albums" chart and at #27 on the "Billboard 200" chart in 2003...
tour of 2004 marked her last with Yanni.
Briggs also made her Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
debut in 1994, performing with pianist Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
. She has also performed with a number of other artists over the years, including Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
, the Wu Tang Clan, En Vogue
En Vogue
En Vogue is an American female R&B vocal group from Oakland, California assembled by music producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy.The group has won more MTV Video Music Awards than any other female group in MTV history, a total of seven, along with four Soul Train Awards, six American Music...
and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
, Benise, Marla Gibbs
Marla Gibbs
Marla Gibbs is an American television and film actress and singer. She is best remembered for playing Louise and George Jefferson's sarcastic maid, Florence Johnston, on The Jeffersons and spinoff Checking In...
, Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
, Ashley Maher
Ashley Maher
Ashley Maher is a singer and songwriter who has meshedthe rhythmic impulses of West Africa and Latin America withWestern song structures.-Biography:Ashley Maher was born to British parents in Montreal, Canada, and moved to...
, Taliesin Orchestra
Taliesin Orchestra
The Taliesin Orchestra is a British musical group that specializes in remaking famous songs into orchestra-style melodies. The band's first album, Orinoco Flow: The Music of Enya, was a collection of songs originally created and sung by Enya; it was released in 1996...
, Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen is a Grammy Award-winning African American R&B and jazz vocalist, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
and Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
. Her career includes appearances in many TV/movie soundtracks as well as various other concerts (ranging from Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
to Harlem's Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...
to The Kennedy Center) and TV shows. She also had a cameo appearance in the 1999 motion picture Music of the Heart
Music of the Heart
Music of the Heart is a 1999 dramatic film. This film was produced by Craven-Maddalena Films and Miramax Films, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution.The film stars Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn, Gloria Estefan, and Angela Bassett...
.
Briggs has a natural ability to improvise in various styles of music, such as symphonic orchestra, Latin orquesta, R & B, gospel, jazz ensemble and even rap. Additional exposure to genres of Caribbean, Afro Latin, Pop and Middle Eastern musical idioms has allowed her to evolutionize her identifiable style.
Briggs took part in a documentary titled "Live Music, Community & Social Conscience" while part of Geri Allen
Geri Allen
Geri Allen is an American composer/pianist educator jazz pianist, raised in Detroit, Michigan, and educated in the Detroit Public Schools. Allen has worked with many of the greats of modern music, including Ornette Coleman, Ron Carter, Ravi Coltrane, Tony Williams, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette,...
's ensemble at the Frog Island Music Festival. She is also featured in "The History Makers" .
In 2002 Briggs recorded some music for the Hidden Beach Recordings
Hidden Beach Recordings
Hidden Beach is an American independent record label specializing in Urban Alternative, R&B, Soul, Inspirational and Contemporary Jazz music genres...
label on a CD titled Unwrapped Vol. 2, including her rendition of a popular rap song from the artist Coolio
Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. , better known by the stage name Coolio, is an American musician, rapper, actor and record producer.-Late 80s:He recorded two singles in the late 80s, titled "Watcha Gonna Do" and "You're Gonna Miss Me"...
, "Gangsta's Paradise
Gangsta's Paradise
Gangsta's Paradise is the second album by rapper Coolio, released on November 21, 1995. The album contained three hits: "Gangsta's Paradise", which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, "1, 2, 3, 4 ", which reached #5, and "Too Hot," which peaked at #24.-Track listing:-Samples and...
", among other songs that Briggs contributed to this project.
Since that time, Karen has independently released a third project entitled, "Soulchestral Groove" (2009)