About Baraka May
Baraka's versatile voice can be heard in over 300 films, TV episodes, video games, commercials, and albums. A-List film composers including Danny Elfman, John Powell, Hans Zimmer, and Michael Giacchino have enlisted her talents singing everything from belted gospel to ethereal soprano to child-like character voices and celebrity impressions.A vocal chameleon, she has sung behind artists such as Billie Eilish, Pentatonix, Céline Dion, Pharrell Williams, Josh Groban, and Muse and has been featured on stages all over the world, from the Hollywood Bowl to the Tokyo International Forum. She has toured with, music directed, and coached some of Hollywood's elite artists.Baraka joined the beloved Star Wars universe as a soloist in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), providing the bizarre Huttese singing voice of lounge singer, Chanteuse. She joined the Frozen family as a soloist on Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017) and sang featured vocals on Disney Pixar's heartwarming hit, Coco (2017). Baraka has provided several solos and celebrity impressions in Family Guy (1999), including Taylor Swift, Sia, Juice Newton, Sarah McLachlan, Zooey Deschanel, and Madonna. She played a paramount role in the smash hit, La La Land (2016), which she worked on extensively over the course of two years demoing original material fresh from Pasek and Paul, providing solos for on-screen characters, and singing choral/score vocals. She became the singing voice of lead character, Moxy, in the PBS kids show, Mack & Moxy (2015), midway through its first season, and her haunting rendition of Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" is featured on the Pretty Little Liars (2010) episode, Pretty Little Liars: Along Comes Mary (2016).In 2015, Baraka shared the stage with Danny Elfman in The Nightmare Before Christmas LIVE performing as lead female character, Sally, in Tokyo, Japan and again as a character soloist for two sold-out performances at the Hollywood Bowl. She has since performed the role of Alana in The Little Mermaid LIVE at the Hollywood Bowl alongside a star-studded cast including Sara Bareilles, Rebel Wilson, and Tituss Burgess; additionally, she reprised her roles in The Nightmare Before Christmas LIVE for three sold-out performances at the Bowl in 2016 and again in 2017 at the Barclays Center in New York with 'Catherine OHara. She premiered La La Land LIVE and Beauty and the Beast LIVE as a soloist at the Bowl in 2017 and 2018 with Zooey Deschanel and Taye Diggs. Baraka made her directorial debut in 2017 as vocal director and vocal coach for Willy Wonka LIVE at the Hollywood Bowl, performing and working one-on-one with artists including ''Weird Al Yankovic, Elle King, Finn Wolfhard, and Richard Kind.Baraka's skills as a versatile vocalist and pianist have generated a variety of jobs for her as a soundalike singer, voiceover artist, beat-boxer, music director, arranger, songwriter, and master teacher. A summa cum laude graduate of USC's Thornton School of Music, she is regularly asked to serve as music director, section leader, and work as a guest clinician within the choral and a cappella community. Her award-winning vocal arrangements have been featured on Oprah and performed nationally by the nation's top show choirs and a cappella groups.The joy of singing an eclectic mix of styles has made studio work the perfect niche for Baraka's talents. Her background includes classical, pop, jazz, R&B, celebrity impressions, character voices, world music, and musical theater. Whether s...