Blessed with a fitting name for her chosen path – it was Horn’s jazz-loving, piano-playing grandmother who chose “Jazzmeia” – the singer was born in Dallas in 1991, grew up in a tightly knit, church-going family filled with musical talent and began singing as a toddler. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts, known for launching such musical greats as Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, and Erykah Badu, then later attended The New School in New York City. Her education included steering herself to the mentors who would guide her passion for jazz, like Bobby McFerrin, Abbey Lincoln, and Betty Carter. Winner of the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition and the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, Jazzmeia was signed to Concord Records and released her debut album A Social Call in 2017 to great critical acclaim.