Dr Jo Lawry

Biography

Dr Jo Lawry is a vocalist, composer and educator, and joins Guildhall School from the University of Sydney, where she was Equity in Jazz Team Leader. Dr Lawry has also been on the faculty of New England Conservatory, Boston; Manhattan School of Music, New York and the University of Adelaide. 

As a musician, Dr Lawry has worked with Carnegie Hall as a featured artist in its ‘Musical Connections programme’, served as Artist-in-Residence at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and has been a Teaching Artist-in-Residence at Frost School of Music, Miami and the University of North Texas, as well as being a guest teaching artist at Jazz Campus, Basel and Siena International Jazz Workshop. Her debut album, I Want to Be Happy, was named as one of “Best CDs of the Decade” by Downbeat Magazine. As a guest artist, Dr Lawry has also featured on numerous jazz recordings including Dr Lonnie Smith’s Rise Up! And Kate McGarry’s If Less is More… Nothing is Everything. 

Beyond jazz circles, Dr Lawry has become well known for her work with Sting, with whom she has toured and recorded with since 2009, and more recently with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. In 2013, Dr Lawry was featured in the film 20 Feet From Stardom, which chronicled the lives and careers of the musical voices behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21^st century, and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.