Biography

Nellie Travis's love affair with music goes all the way back to southern Mississippi with a childhood filled with singing at church functions, weddings and talent competitions. Ms. Travis originally hails from Mound Bayou, Mississippi and during the mid 1980's she was lead vocalist for the Mississippi based group "SSIPP", opening for acts from Dee Dee Warwick to Ray Charles. During this period she also recorded extensively in Memphis under the direction of Ed Townsend.

Since relocating to Chicago in 1992, Nellie has been singing throughout the Chicago land area., Texas, Ohio, Kentucky, California, Mississippi, New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

She has entertained crowds at the internationally famous Kingston Mines since 1997, backed by Sam Goode and the Crusin Blues Machine. Having blossomed as a blues force to be reckon with, Nellie now performs with her own band, The Men in Black. She has become a blues staple in Chicago and can be found performing in the many blues clubs in and around the Chicago area. Not content to merely stand on the stage and sing, she keeps the room alive, often leaving the bandstand to get people involved in the show. It's not unusual for surprised audience members to find themselves with a microphone in the front of them or dancing on the bandstand.

Nellie has standing engagements overseas and has performed in Greece since 1998. Her many overseas tours has included performances in Germany, Brazil, Italy and Japan. The "Tiger" performs regularly in Chicago when she's not touring around the country in the many venues and festivals that take place throughout the year.

Ms. Travis released her debut cd in September, 2000 titled "I Got It Like That" as well as a Japanese backed CD featuring Shun Kikuta entitled "Heart & Soul" for Yoshinaga Ichinose M & I Co. Nellie is a featured artist on Biscuit Miller's debut release, lending her vocal talents in a duet called Let's Go Fishing. In 2002 she released a live CD entitled "Nellie Tiger Travis…Live at Sweet Georgia Browns". Nellie's 2005 CD debut, "Wanna Be With You" was produced by Floyd Hamberling of DA Man Records.

Performing Highlights:
Appeared with Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Carls Weathersby, Bobby Rush, Tyrone Davis, Otis Clay, Big Time Sarah, Cicero Blake, Buddy Miles, Artie "Blues Boy" White, Little Milton, Willie Clayton, Benny Latimore, J. Blackfoot, Shannon Curfman and Shemika Copeland.


International Performances:
Athens, Greece 1997-99
Japan Carnival 2000 featuring Buddy Guy
Germany May 1998
Brazil May 2005
Italy 2005 Porretta Soul Festival
Rome, Italy October 23rd through 30th. 2006
Athens, Greece December 10th. through 17th. 2006


2006 held a fist full of excitement for Ms. Travis. She was honored to have been asked to perform in the 43rd. Annual Medgar Evers/BB King Homecoming as well as headline "The Blues Is Alright" Thanksgiving Tour also held in Mississippi. Ms. Travis has traveled coast to coast spreading the good news of the blues. She performed in historic Williamsburg, VA at President's Park and the 2006 Blues Bash held at the Omni International Hotel in Newport News, VA. then traveled to San Francisco and performed with the Legends of Chicago Blues at Biscuit & Blues and then graced the stage at the exclusive Montalvo Art Center in Saratoga, CA. In 2006 Ms. Travis also went on to win the 2006 Chicago Blues Diva Contest held by various blues venues in Chicago. The "Tiger" ended the year by being included in the "Sisters of Royalty" benefit held at the House of Blues in Chicago on behalf of the KoKo Taylor Foundation 2007 has started off with a bang as Ms. Travis was nominated in the 27th. Annual Chicago Music Awards (CMA) for Best Blues Album/CD and has graciously accepted the invitation to perform as a headliner at the 24th Annual Chicago Blues Festival starting June 7th.

        This is the year of the "Tiger"

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