Laila Biali

Laila Biali (born 3 October 1980) is a Canadian-born Jazz singer, songwriter and piano performer. She is a Juno Award nominated performer and has won numerous other honours. She has performed with and opened for Chris Botti, Sting, Dave Brubeck, Diana Krall, Paula Cole, Suzanne Vega, and others. Biali was born in Vancouver and began playing piano at the age of 4. She studied classical piano for many years and is a proud alumnus of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She then developed a keen interest in Jazz in her late teens. At age 19, she began her professional career when she moved to Toronto to attend Humber College on scholarships. By 2003, she had won the CBC Galaxie Prize (Rising Star Award) at the National Jazz Awards. In 2005, she won SOCAN Keyboardist of the Year and Composer of the Year at the National Jazz Awards. She performs regularly around the world and her most prolific performance includes taking to the stage at Carnegie Hall in NYC. She plays regularly to sold out audiences at Glenn Gould Theatre in Toronto.[3] She has also toured with Paula Cole, Chris Botti and Suzanne Vega. (She met her husband - drummer Ben Wittman - on tour with Cole.) In 2009 she performed live on NBC Today, The View and David Letterman with Sting as one of his back-up singers. She recorded the DVD for If On a Winter's Night with Sting in Tuscany in August 2009.