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Vivacious Vivian Nouri, who escaped from a war torn country as a child, is now singing her heart out in Hollywood and is planning a Middle Eastern and North African tour to showcase her debut single Where Do We Go From Here.
The pop singing sensation, better known by her stage name NOURI, released her single in November and is thrilled to finally see her recording dreams come to fruition.
“I couldn’t be more proud as I’ve worked so hard on the song and the video,” said the 25 year old living in New York where she is recording music. “I’m glad everybody gets to finally listen to it and see the video. My music definitely is pop with soul elements. It makes you want to dance and cry at the same time.
“Music is my life and it has definitely helped me. It’s my release for anything I’m ever going through.”
NOURI’s musical journey is an emotional one full of challenges and adversity but with a happy ending. The talented singer, songwriter was born in a Syrian refugee camp after her home in Kurdistan was horrifically bombed. At the age of three, she and her family were granted refugee status in New Zealand where she found her voice and courage to carry on.
“I started singing at a very young age and performed live for the first time when I was nine at a school talent quest,” said NOURI, whose father is a Kurdish singer.
“I received a standing ovation after performing Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey’s When You Believe and have wanted to sing professionally ever since.”
At the age of 10, NOURI was singing at a variety of local events and contests. In 2009, she won a Five Minutes of Fame competition held in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore and the organiser invited her to perform for former Prime Minister John Key and other members of parliament at the Style Pasifika Fashion Show.
“I’ve also won a few beauty pageants and talent quests,” added NOURI. “I won a competition when I was about 17 where I travelled to Los Angeles to perform at the World Championship of Performing Arts.”
NOURI’s singing success continued to flourish when she was discovered by Grammy Award-winning producer Brian Kennedy – who also worked with major stars such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga.
“I used to post covers on YouTube all the time in hopes of getting discovered,” she explained. “I sent a cover to him singing Close To You by Rihanna through Instagram and he loved it!
“He wanted to work with me so I made the decision to go to Los Angeles for a month at the beginning of 2017. I learned a lot from him in terms of recording and writing.
“I had to network and build relationships while I was there because that’s also super important. Since then I’ve been back and forth recording music with a bunch of different producers and meeting a lot of different people.”
NOURI’s networking skills paid off as she was offered a feature in the soundtrack for the Paramount Pictures movie Daddy’s Home 2.
In 2018, she performed the US National Anthem at the Staples Centre in LA for the New York Knicks versus Los Angeles Clippers basketball game. In July 2018, NOURI competed in the First Annual Celebrity Football Game for the John Ross III Foundation alongside Snoop Dogg and Trey Songz where, two minutes into the game, she scored the game’s first touchdown.
She shot to fame in 2018 when her single, which features subtle guitars, a dash of Middle Eastern-flare and her vibrant vocals, debuted in the number one spot on the New Zealand Hot 20 Singles chart.
Although no dates have been set, she will be visiting the kingdom in the near future and is looking forward to it.
“I love all my supporters and I’m so grateful to have them by my side,” said NOURI. “I believe in what I’m doing and I will continue to do so and to hopefully shine a light on Syrian refugees from a different perspective.
“I’m following this record wherever it takes me and will be releasing more music soon too!”
To find out more, follow her on Instagram @nouri and on Facebook at iamnouri or visit her website www.iamnouri.com
