Biography

Twenty-year-old singer/songwriter, meira (Jo Meira Strogatz) took the internet by surprise when at 12 years old, under the alias “Canen”, she got millions of YouTube views for her cover of "Ain't No Sunshine". Sixteen of her early covers aired on radio stations around the world, and many national and international magazines, blogs and TV shows featured or reviewed her work. At 14, she opened for national headliner Todd Rundgren at the Syracuse Jazz Festival, and later earned the prestigious National YoungArts Award in Jazz Voice. meira’s early interest in jazz voice, with influences such as Ella Fitzgerald and Norah Jones, later expanded to an admiration of more alternative artists – including Phoebe Bridgers, dodie, and Samia – and sparked an interest in telling stories through song. meira has grown since her early years — in both skill and in height — and is now creating her own sound based on personal experiences. Her music is always voice-first, with soulful vocals and raw emotion. Using direct lyricism, meira aims to sing the words that people would be otherwise afraid to speak. In what she calls a “sonic diary entry”, her songs contain a striking mix of brutally honest thoughts and conversational, even sometimes confessional, words from the heart. While singing is a serious outlet for her, she still produces plenty of music in the closet of her third floor Somerville, MA, walk-up, while dreaming of higher ground–and an elevator.