Joyce Wrice

Born in Chula Vista, California, with Japanese and African-American roots, Wrice spent most of her time attached to her mother’s hip. Her father, a Shreveport, Louisiana, native who was raised in Flint, Michigan, met her mother while stationed in Japan with the U.S. Navy. While he continued to travel due to his military service, Wrice and her mom made the San Diego area their home, drawn to the Buddhist community they found in Chula Vista. Wrice is an only child, and outside of going to Japanese Saturday school and Buddhist meetings with her mom, she spent a lot of time by herself, which is how music got in the picture. “Music was my first love, my best friend,” she says. “My sibling that I never had.” She spent her free time watching all the music videos she could, and was inspired by artists like Missy Elliot and Tamia; she dates her earliest childhood memory with music to listening to Notorious B.I.G. and 112’s “Only You” remix in the car with her dad. As a seven-year-old, she would sing along to classic R&B tracks by singers like Faith Evans as her cousin was practicing DJing. Later on, she briefly considered attending an arts school. By college, Wrice had decided to go on to a career of teaching special-needs kids, until she had a change of heart. “I grew up with parents who are like, ‘You should be a lawyer,’” she says. “[They felt] singing and entertainment is just a hobby.” After high school, Wrice continued recording R&B and hip-hop covers in college while her friend played the ukulele. Her college classmates began to recognize her from her YouTube covers, and encouraged her to pursue a career in music, eventually leading Wrice to move to Los Angeles. “When I graduated, I decided being an educator will always be there, go after music, move to L.A.,” says Wrice. “You’re 21. Just see what could happen.” Once in L.A., Wrice worked odd jobs, used social media to leverage herself as an artist, and met the right people to grow her career. In 2016, she put ou