Ina Forsman (FI)

About

Ina Forsman has a voice that draws obvious comparisons to the soul and blues greats she grew up loving, think Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and Donny Hathaway, and she has the songwriting chops to back it up. The Helsinki born singer broke out through The Voice of Finland and quickly found her footing in the blues world, representing Finland at the European Blues Challenge in Riga and later signing with Ruf Records. Her 2016 debut solo album was cut in Austin, Texas, with a serious lineup of players and featured her take on Nina Simone's "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl". She toured relentlessly as part of Ruf's Blues Caravan series, sharing stages with Tasha Taylor, Layla Zoe and later Ally Venable and Katarina Pejak. Her 2019 album Been Meaning to Tell You leaned into a soul blues feel across 12 originals, all with lyrics from her own pen. By her 2022 album All There Is, released on Jazzhaus Records, she had taken full control of the music too, composing everything herself for the first time after the pandemic stripped away her usual collaborators.