Solo performer, Dianne Nola, has been entertaining audiences since she was a curious youth. Her incendiary style ignites listeners into a strikingly honest performance.

In her originals, verbal vignettes are carefully crafted with social satire yet uplifted by the true tradition of her blues roots. Her wide-ranging vocals can burst into a plethora of textures yet remain grounded by her robust left-hand stride. Laura Nyro, Maria Muldaur, or Tori Amos are some of the artists that come to mind when you hear her perform.

Nola grew up on an orchard in the Central Valley of California and began writing and performing at cafés during high school. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz, earning degrees in theater and music. She was fortunate to have once studied with songwriter, Carole King.

After college, she became active in the jazz scene performing and fronting small ensembles. In the mid '80s, she formed a duo with vocalist Gail Clark. The two became active performers on the folk and women’s music circuit with a repertoire that included Nola’s originals as well as jazz standards.

She moved to San Francisco in the early '90s, to promote her new album, When Are You Gonna Move To L.A.? and to be part of the burgeoning neo-folk scene. Soon after, she assembled local jazz players to form Dianne Nola with Driving On Ice. Her song, Where Have My Years Gone?, recorded with the group, was chosen as one of the finalists in the Best of the Bay 1992 competition.

By the late 1990s, the performance art group FOODSEXY!, was playing original songs about the erotic nature of food. The group included Nola on lead vocals, various instruments and tap dancing, alongside San Francisco-based singer/songwriter, Margrit Eichler (True Margrit).

In 2001, frustrated by the music industry, she returned to college to pursue a degree in jazz education. Inspired from the local music scene of Austin, Texas, she began again to perform her own compositions or in a blues act donning period attire.

Some of the notable musicians she has studied with are Paul Peña, Caroline Dahl, Patti Cathcart (Tuck & Patti), Mark Levine, David Gordon, Joe Gore and members of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, David Worm and Rhiannon.

With lush vocals, insightful lyrics and dynamic delivery, Dianne Nola continues to be an exhuberant and compelling performer.