It was a direct result of writing songs', she said at the press release of her debut album, Acoustic Soul. 'When I started tapping into my own sensitivity, I started to understand people better.

Simpson had taken up a succession of musical instruments throughout her schooling in Denver, but her interest in the guitar while attending the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, led to a personal revelation about songwriting and performing. Īfter Simpson's parents divorced, her mother moved the family to Atlanta, Georgia when India was 13. Arie is African-American, and according to a DNA analysis, she descends from the Mende people of Sierra Leone, the Kru people of Liberia and the Fula people of Guinea-Bissau. She has an older brother named J'On and younger sister Mary A Martin of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Her mother is a former singer (she was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green) and is now her stylist. Her musical skills were encouraged by both parents in her younger years. India was born in Denver, Colorado, the daughter of Joyce and Ralph Simpson.

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