The songwriter/bandleader made her Chicago Blues Festival debut this year, in front of tens of thousands. Best known in the blues world – she’s a fifteen-time Blues Music Award nominee and five-time winner, including nominations for the monumental Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, Horn Player of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and Contemporary Blues Album of the Year for “Do It My Own Way”. Do It My Own Way finds her influenced by soul artists like Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones, James Brown, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Aretha Franklin. Blues Blast Mag said, “Vanessa is an important part of the future of the blues.” Born in Texas, growing up in Maryland, launching her career in Philadelphia, and now residing in South Carolina, Collier grew up listening to an eclectic variety of music. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, she joined blues legend Joe Louis Walker’s band, going solo at his urging, and has become a notable artist “whose rise to the top is nothing short of meteoric” (Making a Scene).