The Indie Artist of the week

Shelley Ruffin

Shelley Ruffin is a professional vocalist and recording artist with a powerful yet smooth soulful style.

Music has run through Shelley Ruffin’s life with all the depth and breadth of the mighty Mississippi coursing past her hometown of Memphis TN. The rich musical landscape of Memphis focused on historic Beale Street--her maiden name, interes7ngly, is Beale—immersed Shelley in a diverse array of genres that helped shape her own signature style and lead to her career in music.

Shelley got her start singing in church as a teen. After moving to Nashville TN she began performing professionally. First singing backgrounds for an up-and-coming R&B singer who asked “Why aren’t you performing as a lead singer?” That simple encouraging question resulted in her emerging as a solo artist and led to Shelley performing and recording with many of the industry’s best, including The Memphis Horns, members of the Nashville Symphony String sec7on, Musician’s Hall of Famers, and Grammy award winners.

Her rich musical heritage dates back to a Grandfather, a big band leader/player, who regularly opened for Guy Lombardo. Shelley’s vast entertainment career also includes modeling, TV commercials, and print ads.

During Shelley’s years in Nashville, she was offered recording contracts on a couple of occasions, but neither of them fit her professional goals. Recently, Shelley was asked to record a song as part of a Soul Session compila7on that did in fact fit her focus. The recording was a remake of a Smokey Robinson hit, “More Love”, which has now been released to radio, is currently spinning worldwide, and is available on all streaming platforms.