ANIBA HOTEP & THE SOL COLLECTIVE
Aniba Hotep is an American Singer/Songwriter whose name translates as (messenger of peace), born Oct 16th in a small town in Virginia. Aniba’s career started at the early age of 8 years old when she would travel all throughout Virginia performing in churches. She became known as little Mahalia amongst her church peers. Her powerful southern voice, even as a child, would help her to win contest after contest. It also brought her to the famed Apollo Theater. She remained popular, as the quiet girl with the big voice, throughout High School and College. After College, she made the decision to move to Chicago where she performed at local open mics, quickly becoming respected as a vocal powerhouse . She then began to make recordings with a local hip hop producer. Her voice gelled so well with hard hitting hip hop tracks that she decided to release the songs as an EP entitled “Etheric Child”. The EP gained much respect from her peers and the audiences in her many shows. Though she is a closet hip hop fanatic, it came to a point when the tracks where no longer enough to showcase all of her vocal ability. She then began to seek out a band to have the movement and fluidity that she heard on the songs that she wrote, as well as heard in her head. Aniba’s voice was so respected that it was not hard finding what has now become The Sol Collective. Aniba is classic in every way, from moving from the country to the big city, to having roots in the church and influences like Otis Redding, Al Green, Shirley Brown, Betty Wright, Billie Holiday and Mahalia Jackson. She is a musical chameleon, able to morph into any style from gospel to hip hop and even acoustic. She implements soulful tones that haven’t been heard since the 60’s and 70’s. Aniba is what many call the natural progression of Soul. She has lead her band, The Sol Collective, to many heights, from performing at venues such as House Of Blues, Steppenwolf Theater, Mayne Stage Theater, The McCormick Place, The African Festival of The Arts and more. She has headlined and performed with many greats such as Gerald Alston of The Manhattans, The Drifters, Mint Condition, Chaka Khan and Carl Thomas. Aniba has recently released an EP through CD Baby entitled “The SOLution”, which had five singles to reach the top ten on the Soul and Neo-Soul charts, respectively. The EP showcases her writing ability, as well as her ability to make modern soul hits that touch both the young and the old regardless of gender or race. With Aniba’s amazing vocal and writing skills, you can look to her to become the modern day Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner.