In 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, researcher Poushali Mitra — then working for the Alberta Sikh History Project — was browsing through Google and YouTube when she randomly came across Judi Singh's profile. What drew Mitra to Judi's profile was her Sikh surname, 'Singh', which led Mitra to expect a brown South Asian woman. Except, Judi Singh passed as Black, like her mother. But that was not the only surprising thing about Singh. She was also a singer-songwriter — a jazz vocalist who drew from her Sikh and Black heritage and emerged in the 1960s as a rare and remarkable talent in a music scene that offered little space for artists who looked like her.

Born on 9 May, 1945, in Edmonton to Sohan Singh Bhullar, one of the earliest Punjabi Sikh settlers in Alberta, Canada, and Effie Jones, a Black-Canadian woman who descended from the pioneering community of Amber Valley, Singh represented a rare convergence of cultures. Her voice — both metaphorically and literally — was shaped by that dual inheritance. From gospel choirs to Hindustani melodies, Singh grew up at the crossroads of musical and cultural traditions, which gave her a singular voice and a sound that defied easy categorisation.

Debuting at Edmonton's iconic Yardbird Suite at only 17, Singh soon became a fixture at the renowned jazz venue. By the mid-1960s, she was recording for CBC in Winnipeg and collaborating with legendary guitarist Lenny Breau. Though their relationship was troubled, her musical output during this period — including the rare 1970 LP 'A Time for Love', her first and only album, recorded with pianist and bandleader Tommy Banks — showcased a singer of extraordinary emotional depth and technical finesse. Yet, Singh remained a musicians' musician. Despite developing a cult following and a strong reputation among those in the know as one of the best jazz singers to come out of Western Canada at the time, Singh never quite broke through into the national or international jazz mainstream.

Much of this had to do with the period. The Canadian jazz scene in the 1960s and 70s, like much of the wider music industry, was still overwhelmingly white and male. Singh, as a biracial woman navigating both racial prejudice and social expectations, carried burdens her peers didn't. Industry support was limited, and with the challenges of raising a child alone after her separation from Breau, Singh eventually stepped away from the spotlight. She continued to perform locally and made occasional appearances into the early 2000s, but never recorded another solo album.

Judi Singh passed away in 2021 in Victoria, British Columbia, far from the spotlight she once held. But her voice — full of shimmering bossa nova influences, unequalled balladry, and West Coast cool — is rising again in the unlikely arena of social media. 'Have You Heard Judi Singh?', a 2025 documentary about Singh's life, by filmmaker Baljit Sangra has brought her back to the limelight, and her music — once obscured by the tide of time — is once again trending on TikTok.

What makes Judi Singh's resurgence so significant is not just the overdue recognition of her talent, but what her story symbolizes for the future of jazz. Singh's rediscovery arrives at a moment when jazz itself is being redefined. Today's jazz is increasingly shaped by artists of colour, women, and musicians drawing on diasporic sounds and hybrid, multi-faceted identities. From Sparklmami's retro soul and jazz fusion stylings to Tamil Jazz Collective's experiments with Carnatic influences, the genre is in the midst of a renaissance that is both global and deeply personal. In many ways, Judi Singh's music — once sidelined as an outlier — now feels more like what it really represented: a prescient blueprint for a more inclusive, borderless jazz future that was many decades ahead of her time.

Watch the trailer of filmmaker Baljit Sangra's documentary 'Have You Heard Judi Singh' here:

To learn more about Judi Singh, read Poushali Mitra's article here.

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