Nadia Ali @ Ruby Skye

As with any great era of music, there are always a handful of tracks that can be considered genre defining. For dance music -from the late 90\'s to the new millennium - there were only a select few tracks that caught fire around the world. Most of these tracks came from the godfather\'s of the recent dance music explosion: We\'re talking about tracks like Underworld\'s Born Slippy, and The Chemical Brother\'s Block Rockin\' Beats. However, there was one track in particular that emerged from the underground and caught everyone off guard. At first, people knew Iio\'s Rapture by the catchy la, la, la chorus as sung by a beautiful voice. As the track emerged from the underground and blew up in the mainstream, Rapture became a true tour de force. Remixes from Creamer & K, Deep Dish and Armin van Buuren would follow and the track sold into the millions. Still, at the heart of what made Rapture so beautiful was that voice. That voice - and voice of a new generation in house music - belongs to Nadia Ali.

Nadia Ali was born in the Mediterranean and grew up in Queens, New York City. In her teens, Nadia listened to a huge variety of music - anything from Reggae, Hip Hop, Latin house and from Motown to alternative rock. However, Nadia considers classic rock and Indian music to be her biggest genre influences. Artistically, the three performers having the most influence on her are Stevie Nicks, because of her haunting vocals and songwriting; Sade, because she has such a distinctive sound; and Madonna, For being such an intense performer. She has also been heavily influenced by artists ranging from U2, Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison, Carole King, Depeche Mode and eastern icon, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, among others.