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For some, world-wide touring and critically acclaimed albums would be satisfaction enough. Not for YolanDa Brown, she wears many hats, musician, broadcaster, author, philanthropist and wears them well with passion and full of vigor. YolanDa is a double MOBO Award winning artist, her music is a delicious fusion of reggae, jazz and soul. She has toured with The Temptations, Jools Hollands Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Billy Ocean and collaborated with artists such as Dave Stewart from Eurythmics, Snarky Puppys Bill Laurance, Kelly Jones from Stereophonics, Rick Astley, Floacist from Floetry, Raheem Devaughn. She is currently composing music for the iconic Sesame Street and an animated series called Beas Block, as well as the Netflix Series CocoMelon Lane. She was awarded an OBE for services to music, music education and broadcasting in the 2023 New Year Honours List by his Majesty the King. In July 2022, YolanDa was appointed Chair of BPI - the representative voice for record labels in the UK. BPI organises The BRIT Awards, The Mercury Prize and co-owns The Official Charts. The Lord Lieutenant of Greater London appointed YolanDa as a Deputy Lieutenant in October 2022. A champion for the importance of music education, YolanDa is Chair of Youth Music, sits on the Arts Council National Council, and in 2021, she was invited by the Department of Education to sit on the advisory panel of the National Plan for Music Education. November 2022 saw YolanDa awarded the Music Week Women in Music Music Champion Award. During the pandemic with Sony Music and Twinkl, YolanDa rolled out her bespoke online music lesson plans for teachers, parents, and pupils in primary schools nationwide, an estimated 30 000 children have used the resources. YolanDa graduated with a first-class degree in Operations management from the University of Kent, followed by 2 Masters degrees, and studied a Ph.D. for four years, before taking a hiatus from her thesis to pursue her music career. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London. A BAFTA nominated broadcaster working across TV and Radio, including her eponymous series for CBeebies, YolanDas Band Jam won the RTSNW award as Best Childrens Programme. For the BBC Proms she hosted the Ella and Dizzy Centenary, as well as Last night of the Proms, Gospel Choir of the Year for BBC One and BBC Young Jazz Musician of the year. Host of the London Philharmonic Orchestra podcast Offstage, YolanDa presents a series talking to a range of musicians within the LPO about their experiences as orchestral musicians. Over on the airways, she hosts YolanDa Brown on Saturday on Jazz FM, the best classical music every Sunday on Scala radio, Radio 4s Loose Ends with Clive Anderson, and across many shows on Radio 2 and Magic FM. An entrepreneur too, YolanDa launched the London Saxophone Festival in 2018, currently in its third edition, and she is about to launch her own music venue and restaurant, Soul Mama early 2024. YolanDa loves to drive fast cars around racetracks in her spare time and can even rattle off a Rubiks Cube in around five minutes (on a good day).A real renaissance woman set to reach new heights.
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