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Fast-rising British singer Sienna Spiro played a special set at New York’s intimate Soho Sessions in support of the North Shore Animal League America, a Long Island-based animal-rescue organization.
The highly touted
20-year-old singer, who released her debut album “Visitor” earlier this month, played a set for an invite-only crowd of around 150 people, based heavily on the album but also livened things up with three covers, the ‘60s R&B chestnut “Hard to Handle” (also a hit single for the Black Crowes from their 1990 debut album) and Lauryn Hill’s 1999 classic “Doo Wop (Dat Ding),” as well as the somber standard “Autumn Leaves.”
While she’s often (intimidatingly) compared with Adele, Spiro is an assured and nuanced singer with a dazzling range and ability to belt that belies her age — although she spoke at length about the influence Nina Simone has had on her singing, so she’s clearly studied the classics.
The Soho Sessions are an ongoing series of intimate, invite-only concerts to raise funds and awareness for multiple charities, in this case the North Shore Animal League America, which even brought a pair of puppies to drive their point home (Spiro is pictured above with Soho Sessions founders Greg Williamson and Nicole Rechter). The organization describes itself as “the world’s largest and longest running no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization.”
The concerts, which take place on a floor in a commercial building that once housed the hip-hop mecca Chung King Studios (where classics by Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy were recorded), are organized by producers Williamson and Rechter, who have produced several successful concert series, including Love Rocks NYC (with John Varvatos) and the Talkhouse Jams. They estimate that they have helped raise more than $50 million for charity with their shows.
Past performers include Keith Richards, Mavis Staples, Steve Earle, Gary Clark Jr., Taj Mahal, Yola, Susan Tedeschi, Lucius, Brittney Spencer and others — and each one benefits a different charity. Past beneficiaries have included Everytown for Gun Safety; Music Will, the largest nonprofit music program in the U.S. public school system; the National Alliance on Mental Illness / Hawaii (after the devastating fire in Lahaina); and others.
