Ayanna Irish Bio
Born into a family of musicians from the Caribbean, Ayanna knew music was her calling at a very young age. Hoping she would develop into a classically trained pianist, her parents started her on the piano at age 5 and took her first international music exams with the Royal School of Music, London by age 6.. For the next two years, Ayanna also sang in a quartet alongside her mother, father and brother in opening acts for her dad's major concerts.
As a result of her substantial musical exposure early on, when Ayanna turned 9 she began to captivate audiences of all ages at church and school musical performances. Ayanna's choir and musical directors were genuinely blown away by her vocal talent, and her parents came to realize that their daughter was blessed with a tremendous gift.
To further nurture Ayanna's talent, her parents exposed Ayanna to voice lessons and modeling school. She reciprocated her parents' undying support by winning numerous gospel and school musical competitions. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Music at City College, CUNY. Having been blessed with an enormous voice, natural beauty and an amazing stage presence, Ayanna was well on her way to becoming the next big superstar.
She has recorded the official version of the Montserrat National Song, Motherland, composed by her father. She has performed the U.S. National Anthem for the Nets Basketball Team and was recently presented an award for singing the Anthem over 20 times. She has worked with Kanye West on the Mission Impossible soundtrack single; you can also hear her on the Jadakiss single, "Can't Stop Me."
In 2000, Ayanna lost her mother suddenly, and in 2004 almost lost her life in a major car accident in NYC, but did not let that stop her. Ayanna was invited to tour with Patti Labelle after the legendary soul artist discovered Ayanna's demo recording of "If Only You Knew." While on tour, Patti Labelle shared her spotlight with Ayanna during the performance of this song, and introduced her as "the future of music."
Ayanna performed for Season 2 of the hit TV show "Oh Sit". She has also performed at The Staples Center for George Lopez's Haiti Charity Concert and has opened for artists Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight, Rod Stewart and Ricky Martin at the Walmart Shareholder's Concert in Arkansas, musically directed by the late Emmy Award winner, Katreese Barnes. In 2023, She was awarded a plaque by the NETS basketball team for singing the National Anthem over 20 times. She is currently touring with Booker T Jones and has a song out “Baby” on Booker T’s album Note by Note. After the tragic loss of her father Dr. J.A. George Irish on February 12 2019, Ayanna pushed through her musical journey with the release of first R&B single “All Or Nothing” produced by platinum producer HeatMakerz. Ayanna was invited by the Mayor of New Rochelle to headline the first ever New Year’s Eve concert in New Rochelle in 2024.
She is featured on Talib Kweli’s latest release “You Are My Everything”. Her new anticipated single “Dear Friend” featuring Talib Kweli will be released June 2025.
