originally published: 08/05/2019

(SPARTA, NJ) -- Acclaimed soulful blues singer/saxophonist and 2019 Blues Music Awards "Instrumentalist-Horn" winner Vanessa Collier continues her 2019 Summer-long 'Honey Up' U.S. Tour, supporting her most recent album of the same name, with a local performance at the Sparta Concert Series at Dykstra Park on Friday, August 16 at 7:00pm. Admission is free.

Vanessa Collier received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Blues Society in July at the Briggs Farm Blues Festival.

As proof how far Collier has risen in the eyes of her peers, the young musician recently won "Best Horn - Instrumentalist" at the 2019 (40th Annual) Blues Music Awards, the equivalent of the 'Blues Grammys,' this past May. Vanessa is currently nominated in five categories for the 2019 Independent Blues Awards and two categories for the 2019 Blues Blast Magazine Awards.

About...Vanessa Collier and "Honey Up"

If you haven’t been fortunate enough to meet Vanessa Collier and witness one of her head-turning, fiery, and passionate performances, you should definitely make sure you do. As a master musician and multi-instrumentalist, Vanessa weaves funk, soul, rock, and blues into every powerful performance and she is downright impressive. With soulful vocals, searing saxophone, and witty songwriting, Vanessa is blazing a trail, racking up an arsenal of honors, and has already singled herself out as an artist of distinction and one we would all do well to watch.

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It’s not simply the accolades she has accumulated so far, although they’ve been many -- three Blues Music Award Nominations (BMAs) for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year (2018) and Horn Player of the Year (2018 and 2017), a Blues Blast Award nomination, the Jamming-est Pro Award bestowed by the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, First Place for lyrics in the International Songwriting Competition, Best of 2014 Blues Breaker on Dan Aykroyd’s BluesMobile -- it’s the fact that she has accumulated all these honors even while her career is still in its infancy. A 2013 graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she’s toured nationally and internationally, and released three critically- acclaimed albums (2014’s Heart, Soul & Saxophone and 2017’s Meeting My Shadow), and 2018's self-produced third album, Honey Up.

These days, Collier spends much of her time on the road, performing at some of the most prestigious music festivals in the world. Her talents have taken her to the Blues Music Awards Show where, in the words of the Blues Foundation, Vanessa “blew the doors off the Blues Music Awards!”; Ottawa Blues Festival, where she earned two front page newspaper photos and rave reviews after her foot stomping debut there; twice on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise, where she earned the Jamming-est Pro Award and was a featured artist with Tommy Castro’s Blues Review; Briggs Farm Festival, where she was the “most popular Briggs Farm act in 2017” (Elmore Magazine), and the list continues. In 2017, Vanessa was also a featured artist in three major tours across Europe as part of Ruf’s 2017 Blues Caravan.

Collier says she’s happy performing on stages across the world, hoping that she can make a difference with fans and followers along the way. “I am driven to do this because I find it a total form of expression and connection,” she explains. “I love connecting with an audience and feeling their energy and I hope to inspire people to follow their dreams and passions, to find what brings them joy, and then to pursue it doggedly.”

Dykstra Park is located at 22 Woodport Road in Sparta, New Jersey. For more information on the concert series visit www.spartaarts.org.