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Elliott Smith performing at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, photo by llaurens

Top 10 Most Famous Singers from Portland, Oregon

Portland is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. State of Oregon. It has been located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Portland has been the county seat of Multnomah county which is the largest county in Oregon by population. It has a population of 652,503  as of 2020.

As eclectic as the city itself, Portland’s musical selections include indie rock, jazz, classical, pop, and more. Portland has a robust live music culture, and because of the city’s odd urban mix of residential neighborhoods and nightlife areas, modest neighborhood bars and galleries are frequently the greatest sites to see passionate performances by gifted local and traveling musicians.

Here are the Top 10 Most Famous Singers from Portland, Oregon

1. Esperanza Spalding

Jazz singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding performing at the North Sea Jazz festival photo by
JBreeschoten

 Spalding is an American bassist-singer, songwriter, and composer. Five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, and a Soul Train Music Award are among her many honors. Spalding began performing professionally as a violinist in the Chamber Music Society of Oregon when she was five years old.

Chamber Music Society (2010), her third studio album, was a commercial success, charting at number 34 on the Billboard 200. And earning Spalding her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist; she was the first jazz artist to win in this category.

2. Elliott Smith

Steven paul smith was professional as Elliott Smith. He was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith launched his solo career in 1994, with singles released on the independent labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars (KRS).

He had signed a contract with DreamWorks Records in 1997 and recorded two albums for them.  Smith rose to prominence when his song “Miss Misery,” appeared on the soundtrack of the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. And was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998.

3. Tommy Thayer

Tommy Thayer – Â鶹APP – Bercy 2022 Photo by Tilly Antoine

Thayer is an American musician and songwriter who was in 1960 in Portland Oregon. He has been the lead guitarist and vocalist for the American hard rock band kiss. Thomas was also the lead guitarist for the band Black n’ Blue.

Thayer assisted guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss in relearning their original 1970s guitar and drum parts. He produced and edited Kiss’ long-form video and film releases, including Kiss, The Second Coming in 1998, New Line Cinema’s feature Detroit Rock City in 1998, and Showtime Television’s pay-per-view, The Last Kiss in 2000.

4. Liz Vice 

 Elizabeth Lorraine  Vice who was born in 1983, has been an American gospel music recording artist and musician from Portland Oregon. Her music career began in 2015, with the release of her debut studio album, There’s a Light, on Ramseur Records. This album was her first to chart on the Billboard magazine charts.

5. Amine

Aminé performed at Lollapalooza on August 5, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. photo by swimfinfan

Adam Amine Daniel is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter who was in 1994. His breakthrough track, “Caroline,” which peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, is what first made him famous.  Aminé’s debut studio album was published in 2017. Limbo, his follow-up, was released in 2020.

Aminé released the tracks “Blinds” and “Wedding Crashers,” both of which featured Offset as a vocalist. In 2017, Good for You was made available. With 13,000 copies sold in its first week, the album debuted at number 31 on the US Billboard 200 list.

6. Valerie Day

She has been an American pop and Jazz singer who was born in 1959 in Portland  Oregon, United States. She was raised in a musical family and is an Oregonian of the fourth generation. Together with her husband John Smith, she was a founding member and lead singer of the dance band Nu Shooz in the 1980s. 

Day has experimented with numerous musical styles. She was a featured singer in the Woody Hite Big Band in the late 1990s. In 2005, she collaborated with pianist Tom Grant to record a duets CD.

7. Shy Girls

Dan Vidar who is also known by his stage name Shy Girls, has been an American alternative R&B singer-songwriter and producer. He is currently based in Portland Oregon.

His debut EP, Timeshare, received favorable online reviews when it was released in 2013. Shy Girls appeared at events like Lollapalooza and MusicfestNW in 2014 and was hand-selected to open US tours for Haim, Maxwell, and Little Dragon.

Vidmar was additionally a part of Odesza’s song “All We Need” from their 2014 album In Return.  He issued the 13-track mixtape 4WZ in 2015, which included cameos from Tei Shi, Rome Fortune, Antwon, and Junglepussy. Vidmar has collaborated with musicians like Jhené Aiko, Young Thug, Cashmere Cat, Kito, Cyril Hahn, and Yoke Lore as a producer and songwriter.

8. Jona Bechtolt

Jona Bechtolt performed at the Folkyeah Spring Festival at the F Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, California on April 22, 2007. photo by daniel Arnold

Bechtolt is an electronic musician and multimedia artist who was born in 1980 and has been based in Portland Oregon United states. He is best known for his band YACHT. Jona Bechtolt is a former member of the Badger king, dirty projector, and the Blow. His live performances consist of dancing to his original music and sophisticated PowerPoint shows. On his blog, he chronicles his professional and occasionally personal life in video, text, and photographs.

9. Braille

Bryan  Braille is an American hip-hop recording artist who was born in 1981. Since he was 13 years old, he has been creating and producing hip-hop songs. Bryan and his family temporarily moved to Evesham Township, New Jersey’s Marlton neighborhood, where Bryan attended Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township.

As “Hip-New Hop’s Force,” Braille was honored with a feature and cover story in the fall of 2006 by the periodical R&B Showcase Magazine. He began touring with the hip-hop group De La Soul in the summer of 2007.

10. Yung Bae

Yung Bae photographed in Montreal photo by Bull-Doser

Dallas Cotton who is also known as Yung Bae is a future funk producer from Portland Oregon. He has been known for his album Bae which sampled from 1980s Japanese city pop.

Yung Bae was included in the Billboard Dance Ones to Watch list for 2019.  He had a 21-date North American tour in promotion of his album Bae 5 in 2019.  In addition, he has performed at worldwide music festivals like Coachella and venues like the National Gallery of Singapore[4] while on tour in Asia.

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