At the age of 15, Broadway (Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hairspray) and international vocalist Shayna Steele's appearance on Ed McMahon’s Star Search was her first experience in front of a nationally televised audience. After losing by a half-star, she returned to her hometown of Biloxi, Mississippi to finish high school and pursue a music degree.
      A completely unexpected call in 2005 would drop her into a genre she had absolutely no experience with: Electronica. Hearing that Moby “needed a screamer” for a track off his new album Hotel, a mutual friend recommended Steele, resulting in the single “Raining Again.” Two years later she was back for “Extreme Ways (2007)” and “Disco Lies,“ the first single off Moby’s 2008 release Last Night. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Dance charts and went on to be featured in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield and The Backup Plan. Her vocals are also heard on Hairspray: Soundtrack to the Motion Picture, Sex and the City 2, and the 2021 release of In the Heights. She has made television guest appearances on HBO’s The Sopranos and reprised her Broadway role with the “Dynamites” in NBC’s Hairspray Live.
      Steele’s solo albums include Watch Me Fly (2019) and Rise (2015), which reached number three on the iTunes jazz charts in the United States. Her self-penned song “Gone Under” was selected by Michael League of Snarky Puppy to be the first single released from the Grammy Award-winning band’s album Family Dinner, Volume 1, which has now reached over 1.8 million views on YouTube.
      Steele has appeared with over 40 symphony orchestras throughout North America, including with her solo concert Nothin’ But the Blues, written and conducted by Jeff Tyzik. She recently returned to school after 25 years and is working on her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary music studies at Berklee College of Music. She continues to tour all over the world with her band playing her original music, is a regular guest artist with Grammy-award winning trumpeter Chris Botti, and is recording her fourth studio album, set for release this year.