Joy Crookes

A neo-soul vocalist with British, Bangladeshi, Bengali, and Irish roots, Joy Crookes had already scored a pair of Number 1 hits on the UK's Asian Top 40 chart before crossing into the mainstream with her full-length debut, Skin, in late 2021. Born to a multi-cultural family in South London, England, on October 9, 1998, she began singing at a young age, eventually uploading her covers of popular folk and reggae songs to social media as a teenager. Crookes was still a teenager when she released her debut single, "New Manhattan," in 2016. The song was included on her debut EP, Influence, which was released in 2017. A second EP, Reminiscence, followed in early 2019 and included the hit song "Two Nights," which cracked the Top 20 on the Asian Top 40 chart. Another EP, Perception, was released that same year and featured three additional Asian Top 40 hits, including the Number 3 single "Since I Left You." Before 2019 was over, Joy Crookes had topped the Asian Top 40 chart with her standalone single "Early," which was followed in 2020 by another Number 1 hit, "Anyone But Me." This success set the stage for her major-label debut, Skin, which was released in October 2021 by Sony Music. Featuring a mix of soul, R&B, jazz, and orchestral arrangements, the album became a critical favorite as well as a commercial hit, climbing to Number 5 on the UK Albums chart and Number 10 in Scotland. Meanwhile, the tracks "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" and "When You Were Mine" both peaked at Number 1 on the Asian Top 40 chart, with "Trouble" rising to Number 2.