About
SAMI GRISAFE has enjoyed success as both a professional musician and a professional athlete. She is a working musician in L.A. where she is a featured performer and host, production coordinator and co-curator of SunSeshLA, a private concert series for well-curated performers and passionate patrons of the arts. Sami is also the star of the upcoming feature documentary, Open Field, which tells the story of women’s professional football through Sami’s life story. Sami’s forthcoming album, The Arrival, will be fully released in 2020 as the soundtrack to the film.
Her upcoming single "The Arrival" will be released on July 12th. “The Arrival” is an explosive call-to-action anthem boldly declaring the time has arrived to show up and replace hashtags with impassioned action. Screaming electric guitar, hard-hitting beats, and provocative lyrics delivered by Sami Grisafe’s gritty female vocal awakens the activist in even the most complicit, begging the listener to venture beyond the echo chamber of their social media feed and into the breach for social justice! On December 6, 2019, Sami released a new single, “Key of Us,” which will be featured on Showtime's new series, Work In Progress, on December 15, 2019. "Key of Us" is a modern day love duet that blends Pop, Alt-Folk and just a hint of Country into an immediately relatable and singable tune. Not since Rent's "Take Me or Leave Me" has there been a duet between two women this catchy. “Key of Us” features Chicago-based musician Linsea Waugh and is produced by Koil PreAmple and Eren Cannata and released by the record label she co-founded with Kathy Kuras, Vanguard Muse.
Sami and her music are featured in the movie and soundtrack for Season of Love, a lighthearted holiday rom-com that was released in November 2019 by Tello Films.
Inspired by an array of musical styles from musicians and bands such as Shawn Mendez, Queen, Eminem, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Dave Grohl, and the Counting Crows, Grisafe’s music blends pop, alt-folk, rap and even stadium rock with provocative lyrics. She earned six Grammy pre-nominations for her 2012 album ATLANTIS, and in 2013 received the Chicago Music Award for “Best Rock Entertainer.”
Sami’s notable musical performances and awards include:
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- “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to taking the field at the 2013 I.F.A.F. Women’s World Championship gold medal game. The Huffington Post called her performance “…one of the most inspiring versions of the Star-Spangled Banner we’ve ever heard.”
- “Brand New Fairytale” which she wrote for the historic March on Springfield for Marriage Equality at the state capitol in Illinois. Sami was asked to perform her unforgettable rendition of the National Anthem by Illinois Governor, Pat Quinn for the marriage equality bill signing.
- 2015 ACTION ICON DARE2BE DIFFERENT AWARD
- 2013 Chicago Music Award for “Best Rock Entertainer”
- Six Grammy pre-nominations for 2012 album, Atlantis, in collaboration with L.A. singer-songwriter Shannon Nicole and Chicago-based musician Jaclyn Rada.
FORMER ALL-STAR QUARTERBACK
Before the team disbanded in 2017, Sami gained national attention for her football accomplishments as the award-winning starting quarterback for the Chicago Force Women’s Professional Football Team. As the quarterback for Team USA, Sami led the U.S. Women’s National Team to 3 Gold Medal wins in the I.F.A.F. Women’s World Championship, where she was awarded the MVP twice (2013, 2017). Early in life, Sami chartered new territory as the first female in California to play quarterback in a varsity, Division I football game and was inducted into her High School Hall of Fame in 2014, one of the first and only female athletes to be inducted into a high school hall of fame for football.