Nana Darby is an actress and Laidback Soul singer-songwriter hailing from London.
Nana is a stage and screen actress, having starred in four short films, in two as the lead. She additionally recorded the film soundtrack for ‘Memory Lane.’
She starred as the lead in the stage production of ‘Almost Maine’ directed by Ben Kirby. She has modelled for multiple editorial and commercial shoots, including the lead role in the NHS Wellbeing video campaign.
In her music Nana takes inspiration from personal experiences, exploring love, loss and reclaiming your power.
Her rich and warm vocals are inspired by old soul legends modernised with an upbeat twist. Nana aims to fill the listener with a new sense of empowerment through hearing their own story in her music and its solidarity.
Nana gigged relentlessly over 2019, following on from her UK-Wide tour, she performed alongside artists such as Ana Senko, Adriana Terrèn, Samuel Storm, Daisy Clark, Tanaka Fuego, Ganda Boys and Frank Song Jr. She was chosen as one of Routenotes’s top 4 solo session artists for 2019, out of 190 other songs.
After her debut single was released, she featured as ‘Favourite Find of The Week’ on BBC Introducing, was interviewed and performed live on BBC Cornwall, and then BBC Radio London’s ‘The Scene’ as the spotlight artist of the day. Her second single ‘The Weight’ was chosen as ‘Track of The Week’ on BBC Introducing. She also featured on Jordan Jane’s ‘One And All’ charity album for the Cornwall Community Foundation emergency coronavirus fund.
Over the course of lockdown she performed via livestream for Clunk Magazine, Whisper Magazine Festival, HotVox for WarChild and her festival ‘Turn Up The World.’
She was interviewed and performed four songs for ‘BBC Stay At Home Sessions’ during this time.
Over lockdown she also founded and remains the CEO of the worldwide online music festival Turn Up the World which featured musical artists and yoga teachers from all around the world to boost their online engagement through followers, streams and merchandise sales. The festival had a charity sponsor-for-sponsor deal with small businesses to boost their sales and give them a space to tell their stories.
Turn Up the World fundraised for Black Lives Matter, Defending Black Lives, Campagin Against Living Miserably and FareShare, the efforts for which were endorsed by BBC One, BBC Introducing, BBC Cornwall, Clunk Magazine, The Guilty Feminist, Whisper Magazine, AMATA and Surf Radio Fal. The festival was a way to create community across the world, empathy for one another, and celebrate everyone’s talents and stories in the face of a pandemic.
New Single ‘The Weight’ out now!
NANA’s second single, ‘The Weight’ is out now. She takes the feeling of heavy and confusing hurt and pours it into a healing song, for both the fighter and for the person still hurting, to tell them it is okay to let yourself feel this way and that they are not alone in it.
Check out this soulful track on all streaming platforms!