There’s a quiet power to Nectar Woode — a magnetic blend of soulfulness, sensitivity and spirited self-discovery that courses through every note she sings. Raised in the culturally layered town of Milton Keynes, and born to creatively-minded Ghanaian-British parents, Nectar’s world was always painted with the colours of possibility. “I feel like my parents wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t follow the creative path,” she laughs — but even with their full encouragement, the small-town hush around her often made dreaming out loud feel like a radical act. Nectar’s mother, a seamstress, encouraged expression from a young age, while her father’s Ghanaian heritage infused the household with rhythm, melody, and ancestral depth. Sundays were for church, where the harmonies of gospel choirs made a deep imprint. At home, Nectar was immersed in a rich soundscape — from Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu to Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway — artists who taught her that soul isn’t just a genre, but an emotion you feel deeply. That same emotional truth now pulses through her own music; earlier this year, Elton John likened her to none other than Nina Simone on his Apple Music show, Rocket Hour. 

Now 25-years-old, Nectar Woode has become exactly the kind of artist who honours where she comes from — both in geography and in heritage — while stepping bravely into where she’s headed. Her music, a vivid tapestry of neo-soul, folk, jazz, gospel and raw, diaristic songwriting, has found listeners across the world. Yet her voice — in both sound and spirit — is unmistakably her own. 

Having been raised in “a working class area in Milton-Keynes”, Nectar grew up around so many talented people from different cultural backgrounds, but she noticed that what helped kids stay on the right track was “keeping them occupied with creative spaces. It’s so sad that only financially stable families are able to provide creative spaces for their kids. I think it should be for everyone. Everyone is creative, and they should be provided the means to explore that.” After her secondary school’s refurbishment, Nectar Woode spent most of her free periods in the music room. “There’d be all the guys freestyling while we’d play the piano chords, absolute classics.” Reminiscing fondly on her adolescence, Nectar found the discipline and passion for creative outlets from those around her equally as inspiring, remaining diligent in learning stringed instruments as she grew. “I like restraints or limitations, so if I learned a few keys that day, I’d only make songs within those keys.” 

“I knew I could marry my performing arts skills through the performance of the guitar and having that with me, with my voice and performing songs for people. It made the most sense,” says Nectar, after she enrolled in the music institution ICMP, “To be fair it’s everything you need as an artist: performing, production and songwriting.” But it was gigging close to her degree’s end that ultimately caught the attention of Woode’s now management, after a peer placed her onto his story. “Loads of people kept asking ‘who is that singing’, and followed me. I’m forever grateful,” she explains.