Shakaya

Shakaya are an Australian girl group formed in Cairns, Queensland in 2002 by Simone Stacey and Naomi Wenitong. The two met in 1999 while studying an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music course and they had both been writing individually before they met each other. The girls were initially discovered in Cairns by Reno Nicastro and Michael Pearson-Adams. Nicastro produced most of the girls' songs and gave them free studio time for two years. The band's name, 'Shakaya', was originally going to be 'Kashaya', but then their manager mixed the letters around and it became 'Shakaya'. Stacey and Wenitong did some research and found out that the word "shakaya" has a broad range of meanings in a lot of different cultures. The one that really stood out for them was the meaning "voices in the wind" (which they incorrectly credit as "Native American Indian", but is actually a Hindu female name). For a time, Shakaya became Australia's most successful female urban pop act and they toured with Destiny's Child, Usher, Kylie Minogue and Ja Rule. Naomi went on to become a member of the hip hop group The Last Kinection. In April 2013, Simone auditioned for Season 2 of The Voice Australia and after successfully having three judges turn their chairs she chose Seal as her coach.

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