Karina

Karina Morin has made a life of singing, and now she wants to make singing her life.

What began as a young girl singing for her own amusement in her bedroom has grown the soulful singer performing in jazz bands, girl groups, singing backup and leading cover bands to the point where she is about to launch her solo career and the release of her first solo music video.

The Montreal-born singer is poised for the music video release of Follow My Heart, a single written by Vancouver singer/songwriter Cliff Howard. At the release party she will be singing some of her original songs, backed be her band Soul Assembly.

Now a resident of Vancouver, Karina has been delivering her own brand of funkafied soul to the West Coast the past few months.

However, her first stage performance was as a young singer at a national competition for youth talent called the “YTV Singing Contest”, where she ranked as a finalist.

It was in high school that her music teacher discovered her naturally rhythmic and soulful singing abilities and decided to have her lead a 30-piece jazz band at the annual Montreal Children’s Hospital benefit concert, - something she did for four years.

After high school, she continued to hone her soulful R&B vocals by singing in several pop groups, culminating with her being selected to sing in the all-girl group Jai. In 2001, the group released its first single entitled “Checkin’ Me Out.”

Jai was added to the play lists of several radio stations across Canada and was profiled on several local television shows such as Global news and CTV’s Pulse news as well as the Montreal Gazette newspaper, the News and the Mirror magazine.

The group performed as a featured artist on the Much Music Electric Circus, a nationally-syndicated dance and music show.

Karina eventually moved on to become the female lead singer in several soul and R&B dance bands and headlined at some of the top Montreal dance clubs as well as over seas.

In 2004, Karina made it as a semifinalist on the CTV television show Canadian Idol – and was even featured prominently in the show’s publicity advertisements.

Not long after her “Idol” experience, Karina signed on as a back up singer for Quebec and France’s top leading male artist, Corneille. She toured with his band throughout the spring and summer months in France, the Caribbean and La Reunion, Africa.

To further her training in music, theatre, dance and acting, Karina recently attended the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C.

Karina is now ready to unleash her nu-jazz soul vibe to the world as an emerging solo artist