Born in the city's 7th Ward — the community that produced Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton and Allen Toussaint — Sierra Green sang in her church choir from the age of eight, trained in gospel, and took Whitney Houston as her first vocal influence, with Etta James, Billie Holiday, Chaka Khan, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Sharon Jones and Irma Thomas close behind. She studied psychology at Dillard University, relocated to Oklahoma City after Katrina, and worked her way back home; busking a cappella outside the House of Blues, she told a passerby she had a band — he offered her a gig, and she built one. Busking seven days a week, she earned the title “Queen of Frenchman Street,” bestowed by fellow musician Jake Gold. Early bands included the Sierra Leone Experience and Sierra Green and the Soul Machine.
She recruited her own big band, The Giants — William West on drums, Miguel Perez on bass, Paul Provosty on guitar, Brandon Nater on trumpet, Maurice Cade on trombone and David Ludman on saxophone — and took residencies at top Frenchmen Street clubs. In fall 2023 she and the Giants collaborated in the studio with David Torkanowsky, producing a five-song collection that revitalized The Meters' “Break in the Road” and David Shaw's “Promised Land,” alongside originals like “One Thing” and “He Called Me Baby.”
Her debut album, Here We Are (Big Radio/Righteous Path Records, June 21, 2024), was co-produced in Nashville at the House of Grease with guitarist J.D. Simo — known for his work with Beyoncé, Stevie Nicks and Jack White — and at Downman Sound Studios in New Orleans, with sultry guitar, potent horns and infectious basslines. She has also had the opportunity to work with Irma Thomas, one of her heroes. Poised between Motown, Memphis and the 7th Ward, Sierra Green is a modern soul luminary rising from the heart of New Orleans.
