Since Alissia started importing bass covers on YouTube 13 years in the past, she’s gone from a Berklee School grad to a Grammy-nominated producer for Mary J. Blige, Anderson .Paak and Bootsy Collins, to call only a few. Her aim has remained the identical all through: “There’s at all times extra to study,” she tells Selection. “It’s that starvation for information that has introduced me to some unimaginable locations and other people.”
Born in Switzerland, and a brief resident of Italy and America, the 33 year-old is nominated for non-classical producer of the 12 months on the 2025 Grammys. The nomination acknowledges her for her half in songs like BJ the Chicago Child’s “Honey” (that includes Chlöe) and “Spend the Evening” (that includes Coco Jones), and Jamila Wooden’s “Bugs,” amongst others.
Alissia’s model is clearly rooted in funk and jazz soul. She’s grow to be the go-to for artists wanting so as to add a particular model — traditional but modern — of bass and groove to their music. She’s solely the ninth lady within the present’s 65-year historical past to contend for the award, and this 12 months she’s up towards Dan Nigro, Mustard, Ian Fitchuck and D’Mile in a class the place a lady has by no means gained.
“It’s already been extremely rewarding as a result of this nomination is a lot greater than me,” she affirms. “I’ve at all times had a tremendous help system. Bootsy, from the start, was undoubtedly a mentor, and never simply that, he would introduce me as his protégé.”
And there’s extra: Prince and the late Quincy Jones each reached out to her by way of social media after seeing her efficiency movies on-line. Alissia credit American keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, who famously labored as a session musician for Michael Jackson and numerous others, for making the official introduction between herself and Jones.
“I grew up enamored by [Jones’] string preparations, and once I lastly did get to fulfill him in particular person for the primary time, I didn’t put together something – I nearly knew we might hit it off,” she says, including, “the primary query he requested me was ‘What’s your signal?’”
She continues, “All through all of his years within the trade, previous all of the accolades and every little thing — Quincy was nonetheless sincere about what music meant to him. He was a music lover. And it translated as a result of he was so open to encouraging the following era.”
A self-proclaimed “music nerd,” Alissia started her profession as an artist, and fronted her personal band. She produced and launched her personal EP – although she winces on the point out of it in the present day – composed completely of funk music impressed by Motown’s biggest hits and dubbed “Again to the Funkture.” It’s been wiped from streaming companies however can nonetheless be discovered on different individuals’s channels throughout YouTube.
“I hadn’t lived sufficient musically to signal to a label,” she says. “They wished to manage what I wore, who I labored with, and what model of music I used to be making. I wasn’t prepared. I simply wished to make music and I didn’t need to waste my time doing the rest and positively didn’t need to launch something that I felt wasn’t my finest.”
Good issues come to those that wait, and Alissia resides proof. In 2025, she’s going to launch a debut album with an extended record of options she rigorously avoids spoiling.
“I’ve been making among the most unimaginable music I’ve ever made,” she says. “I’m not singing on it myself, however there’s definitely surprises in retailer.”
