Debuting on the National Roots, Blues, and R&B scene in 2008, Nicole Hart made an impressive beginning with three highly successful tours.  She was the featured female performer of Florida’s “Springing the Blues” in Jacksonville, Florida, one of Downbeat Magazine’s “Top 50 Blues Fests in the World”; the featured female headline act for Laconia’s Big Three Motorcycle Week held annually in New Hampshire; and performed  many other prominent festivals throughout the year, including the Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival in Red Bank, New Jersey.  Her independent CD release, “NICOLE HART & THE NRG BAND LIVE” received airplay worldwide on hundreds of radio stations & continues to receive airplay today.  After coming to the attention of Executive Producer Joseph Morabia, she recorded and just completed mastering her first national studio release for Blues Leaf Records (Albert Castiglia, Janiva Magness.) Featuring a duet with 2008 BMA Nominee & label mate, Albert Castiglia, the record is produced by Grammy award winner, Jack Kreisberg (Paquito D’Rivera, Elvin Jones), and mixed and mastered by Grammy award winning engineer, Ben Elliott (Eric Clapton, Keith Richards.) Her new CD, “TREASURE” is scheduled for North American release spring of 2009. 

“I am an artist influenced by all great music,” says Hart. “Our music is inspired by many of the greatest artists of our time, and I aspire to create a feeling & a depth of integrity representing those influences, while also conveying a viewpoint toward the world all our own."

Straddling a diverse musical terrain defined by such icons as Susan Tedeschi, Janiva Magness, Sheryl Crow, & Bonnie Raitt, Hart’s impressive resume includes work with a variety of music greats such as Billy Joel, Michael Bolton, Harry Belafonte, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley & Richard Bona, as well as work for Oscar-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme.  She has opened for Bernard Allison, Odetta, E.C. Scott, Richie Havens, & has the distinction of being the first-ever Caucasian singer for the R&B super group, The Shirelles.

Musical Director, Arranger and Keyboardist Lance Ong was part of a team that produced, wrote and arranged over 700 songs.  His credits include a Grammy Award-winning record by Andre Crouch, a first round Emmy nomination for CBS Sports, and recordings with David Sanborn, The Pointer Sisters, Grand Funk Railroad, Michael Murphy, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Anne Murray, Johnny Halliday and Sylvie Vartan, Trini Lopez, Erykah Badu & many others. His masterful command of the keyboards is undisputed, and as arranger and co-writer of material for Nicole Hart’s Blues Leaf debut, ‘TREASURE”, his piano & organ work is at its finest yet.