Nancy Ruth

Overview

Nancy Ruth is a Canadian-born singer, songwriter, composer, and vocal coach whose career spans nearly 40 years and five continents. A Berklee-trained performer with Royal Conservatory roots, she has recorded with members of the New York Philharmonic, headlined Africa's largest jazz festival, and sung for the Sultan of Brunei's Royal Palace in Malay and Indonesian. Her music moves fluidly between jazz, Latin, and flamenco influences, shaped by two decades of life in Málaga, Spain. Today, alongside her recording and performing career, she works as a singing teacher and performance coach, helping vocalists build the skills and stage presence to work professionally.

Early Training

Nancy's love of jazz began in family jam sessions growing up in British Columbia, Canada. She went on to study music at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Douglas College, and Berklee College of Music, along with acting and theatre at Langara's Studio 58—a combination of technical and performance training that continues to shape both her stage presence and her teaching today.

Career Highlights

Nancy's professional career began singing in bands booked by the Feldman Agency, touring Canada with Axess, Renaissance, and Aces High. She released her self-titled debut album, Nancy Ruth, in 1998, fronted jazz trios at festivals including Canada's du Maurier International Jazz Festival, and toured internationally as a pianist-vocalist, including a long-running residency as a featured performer at Disney's Sessions Jazz Club.

She was invited to perform for the Sultan of Brunei at the Royal Palace, learning to sing in Malay and Indonesian for a month-long engagement—one of several international residencies that took her around the world, including guest vocal work with WEA recording artists The Lovehunters in Singapore.

Her travels have shaped her music directly: she has collaborated with Arabic and Berber musicians in Morocco, flamenco artists in Andalusia, and musicians in the South Pacific, and appeared as a guest artist on albums by Canadian trumpeter Gabriel Mark Hasselbach and New York composer Joe Gianono.

A performance with Panamanian composer Toño Robira led her toward the boleros and ballads of Latin America, resulting in Spanish-language songwriting for the 2008 release Me Quedo. Returning to Spain, she wrote and recorded Para Ti in both English and Spanish, then produced and starred in Trío Pasión, a touring stage show celebrating the music of Spain and Latin America.

In 2019, Nancy travelled to New York to record new work, including a soundtrack piece featuring members of the New York Philharmonic, arranger Joe Gianono (Blood, Sweat & Tears; Michel Camilo), and Grammy-winning engineer Oscar Zambrano. That same era saw her performing as a featured composer and artist at Festival du Saint-Louis in Senegal—Africa's largest jazz festival.

She has also written and directed a documentary on cross-cultural musical collaboration, filmed over several years in Morocco. Nancy Ruth's Musical Adventures in Morocco made the festival circuit.

Discography & Recent Releases

Nancy Ruth's five studio albums include Nancy Ruth (1998), It's Got To Be Love (2004), Me Quedo (2008), Para Ti, and Sangria Jam—a musical travelogue of her life in Spain, blending jazz, Latin, and flamenco influences into original songwriting. Of her process, she says: "I write what flows freely… I'm not trying to create a fusion, I just play what I feel. I'm a product of my experience and surroundings."

Recent singles include "Todo Para Ti" (2018), followed by a run of 2020 releases—"Breathing in Indigo," "Just Can't Let It Go (Extended Mix in Morocco)," the orchestral "Where the Sea Melts to Sky," featuring members of the New York Philharmonic, and the radio-played ballad "Turn the Lights Back Down." Her most recent singles, released in 2024–25, include "One More Lucky Day," "It's Always Been You," "I Don't Wanna Walk Away," "Straight Back Down," and "Drown in Indecision."

Teaching

Nancy Ruth now divides her time between Canada and Spain, where she works as a vocal coach and singing teacher, drawing on nearly 40 years in the music business to help singers develop technique, stage presence, and the practical skills to work professionally—what she calls helping singers "get the gig." Her teaching draws directly on her own performing career: decades of touring, recording, and international stage work inform every lesson.

Learn more about her coaching and mentorship programs here.