Essence Center Stage at the Convention center

Nominated in three categories, Erica Falls wins Best Female Vocalist - 2017 Best of the Beat awards

It’s a question that Erica Falls hears often enough: “If you’re this good, how come I never heard of you before?”

As a soloist, she’s been performing for the better part of two decades; as a backup singer, she’s appeared or recorded with heavyweights from John Fogerty to Irma Thomas to Sting. But when she made two recent appearances at Jazz Fest—in the Jazz Tent as a frontwoman and at Acura with Allen Toussaint—more than a few were likely seeing her for the first time.