Ivana Kay showcased at A&R Online.

The stage has been a long-time friend of Ivana Kay practically since she could walk. Born and raised in Yugoslavia, a child of Serbian, Spanish and royal Russian heritage, Ivana first discovered a love of singing when she was just a toddler. Her mother left home when she was just a baby, leaving her to the care of her father and stepmother. Living in poverty in Belgrade, Ivana’s talent shone at the tender age of 4 when she joined the National Children’s Choir and became its youngest soloist, performing weekly on national television. A year later, she was making her first professional recordings on a children’s album off of which two singles were released. Soon after this, Ivana’s father suddenly left home and never came back. She would never know the security or sanctuary of a family in a traditional sense. Now, without any parents around to care for her, Ivana’s stepmother stepped in, struggling to make ends meet and put little Ivana through school, paying for her music lessons while sometimes working for months without pay in the throes of the depressed economy of Belgrade.

But Ivana’s talent triumphed over her hardships, and by age 10, with a foundation of classical piano and music theory behind her, Ivana started her long career of winning numerous vocal competitions all around the country and wrote her first songs, winning prizes for her lyrics. At the dawn of her preteen years, Ivana found herself shuttled between her stepmother’s house and her absentee mother’s home in Sweden, and so she spent the first half of her high school years in Sweden where she discovered a love of gospel music soloing in her school’s gospel choir. She returned to Belgrade and initially attended a classical music school, but found her heart belonged to jazz and switched schools. By 19, she was already launching her jazz career singing in clubs and national festivals.

But in 1999, Ivana suddenly saw her world crumble again as Belgrade was seized by war and she watched her Belgrade apartment get bombed. During countless hours spent in basements and bomb shelters, Ivana dreamed of her escape: she dreamed of attending the notorious Berklee College of Music in Boston. When the war was over, Ivana scraped the money together to go to Greece and auditioned, winning the highest scholarship in Europe among 1000 other candidates. With no resources but her very talent to usher her through, Ivana sold her cherished piano among many of her prized possessions in exchange for a plane ticket that brought her across the Atlantic to Boston, so that she could study at Berklee.

Since attending Berklee, Ivana has continued to evolve as a musician as she has become a part of its rich diverse musical community. Since she has arrived, she has traveled back and forth between the United States and Belgrade, taking time off to help form the Yupika Jazz Quintet based in Belgrade, tour and release their first album, “Breath”.

Ivana has won much media attention on her native soil and public acclaim performing on national television, radio broadcasts and national festivals. This year, Ivana will release her first album of entirely original material entitled, “Soul Princess”. Blending R&B and Neo-Soul, Ivana’s album is a brilliant debut that showcases her incredible vocal talents and four octave range, as well as her imaginative writing, unique arrangements and layers of lush background vocals.

At the ripe young age of 25, Ivana is now finishing her studies at Berklee while she promotes her new album.