Jorja Smith Artistfacts

June 11, 1997
Born in Walsall, West Midlands, England, Jorja Smith is of mixed Jamaican and English descent. Her father, Peter, was a benefits officer and former neo-soul musician; her mother, Jolene, is a jewelry designer.
Smith started piano lessons at age 8 and wrote her first song, "Life Is A Path Worth Taking," at 11. She earned a music scholarship at Aldridge School and studied classical voice and oboe.
Jorja Smith began uploading cover songs and original tracks to YouTube in her teens, which led to her discovery and management deal at 15.
Jorja left her hometown of Walsall at 18, relocating to London - a 2.5-hour train ride south - to chase a full-time music career. Her secondary school yearbook had already predicted what was coming, naming her "Most Likely to Become Famous." They weren't wrong.
Smith's first big job was as a Starbucks barista, where she would write lyrics on her breaks before making her music breakthrough.
Her breakout came in 2016 when she uploaded her haunting debut single, "Blue Lights," to SoundCloud. The track clocked nearly half a million plays in a single month, all without a label, marketing budget, or flashy video.
After he heard "Blue Lights," Drake invited Smith to collaborate on his 2017 project More Life. She appears on two tracks: "Jorja Interlude" and "Get It Together."

In addition, Drake invited Smith to open for him on the UK leg of his Boy Meets World Tour in 2017, putting her in front of stadium-sized crowds early in her career. It was a massive platform for a then-unsigned artist.
Stormzy and Kendrick Lamar also gave Smith the nod. Stormzy duetted with her on "Let Me Down" and Lamar tapped her for the Black Panther soundtrack cut "I Am." It was clear: the industry's heaviest hitters saw something rare in her voice.
"Blue Lights" appeared on Smith's 2018 debut album, Lost & Found, a collection that avoided glossy radio bangers in favor of smoky, slow-burning ballads. Drawing on R&B, reggae, jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul, the album pairs atmospheric production with deeply personal lyrics. Her songwriting voice, often compared to Amy Winehouse's for its raw honesty, stands at the center.
Smith won the BRITs Critics' Choice Award in 2018 (previously won by the likes of Adele and Sam Smith) and followed that up with a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist; international confirmation that she'd arrived.
One of her cousins is professional footballer Kemar Roofe.

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