“Such a great player, everything she plays, every note gets you going, which is what the gift of a great musician is” – Jools Holland
“I feel like I’ve been blasted with Sunshine from the creative world” – Fi Glover, BBC Radio 4
“Saxophonist and composer YolanDa Brown is one of the brightest stars on Britain’s contemporary jazz scene” -The Telegraph
YolanDa Brown OBE, 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 Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Billy Ocean and collaborated with artists such as Dave Stewart from Eurythmics, Snarky Puppy’s Bill Laurance, Kelly Jones from Stereophonics and Rick Astley. She is currently composing music for the iconic Sesame Street.
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.
A champion for the importance of music education, YolanDa is Chair of Youth Music, sits on the Arts Council National Council, is a trustee of the PRS Foundation, an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and London Music Fund and sits on the advisory board of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. 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”.
She is a broadcaster working across TV and Radio, including her eponymous series for CBeebies, “YolanDa’s Band Jam”, which won the RTSNW award as Best Children’s 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. Over on the airways, she hosts YolanDa Brown on Saturday on Jazz FM, BBC Radio 4’s ‘Loose Ends’ with Clive Anderson and can be heard regularly across BBC Radio 2.
YolanDa loves to drive fast cars around race tracks in her spare time (and was dubbed “The Lewis Hamilton of the Jazz World” by Ron Dennis from Formula 1’s McClaren) and can even rattle off a Rubik’s Cube in around five minutes (on a good day). A real renaissance woman set to reach new heights.
