GINA SEDMAN BIO 

GINA SEDMAN BIO

Gina Sedman, internationally known as “The Black Girl Hippie,” is a multi‑award‑winning American soul, funk, jazz, and gospel vocalist, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, journalist, and media executive whose career spans more than three decades across continents. Born in Chicago and raised in Inglewood and Los Angeles, California, Gina developed a creative identity rooted in the warmth, colour, and freedom of the 1970s. Her retro‑inspired style, free spirit, and message‑driven artistry led audiences and industry peers to affectionately call her The Black Girl Hippie—a name that reflects her free‑spirited nature, her 70s style of dress, her uplifting personality, and her ability to blend classic soul and funk influences with authenticity, positivity, and independent storytelling.

As a recording artist, Gina has built one of the most independent catalogues in modern soul music. She writes, arranges, produces, mixes, masters, and performs every element of her work herself. None of her music is AI‑generated—not the writing, not the production, not the ideas. Gina refuses to use artificial intelligence in her creative process because she believes that true art is God‑given, born from lived experience, emotion, and personal truth. Her songs are inspired by her own life’s journey, shaped by real stories, real feelings, and real faith. She performs bass, synth keyboards, horns, strings, and uses her voice as an instrument, creating what many describe as the Gina sound—a warm, soulful, unmistakably human signature that cannot be replicated by machines.

Her musical journey includes historic milestones and high‑profile recognition. On August 13, 2006, she won Best Gospel Performer – Female at the Las Vegas Sounds of Soul Music Awards, an honour determined by a committee of music executives and radio programmers. In 2007, she was invited twice to perform as a featured guest artist on the legendary televised stage of Showtime at the Apollo in Harlem, New York. She has opened for Rose Royce in Los Angeles, headlined the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa where Grammy‑winning Earth, Wind & Fire saxophonist Gary Bias joined her on stage, and performed at major American venues including the Fox Theater in Ontario, the Miramonte Hotel, Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa, JW Marriott Desert Springs, Marriott Palm Springs, The Westin, Riviera Resort and Spa, Woody’s Palm House, Wang’s in the Desert, and Fisherman’s Market and Grill.

After relocating to the United Kingdom, Gina quickly established a commanding presence across the British soul scene. Fronting her live band Monopoly, she completed a highly successful tour across Southeast England, repeatedly selling out landmark venues such as The Bear Club in Luton, ranked among the Top Ten Jazz Clubs in the UK. Her UK performance history includes headlining multiple dates at London’s premier soul hub Soul Mama, delivering sold‑out full‑band shows at PizzaExpress Live Holborn, Chelsea, and The Pheasantry, and performing at The Stables in Milton Keynes, the Bedford River Festival, the Luton Funk & Soul Festival, the St Neots Festival, and the Temple of Art and Music with jazz‑fusion supergroup Cong‑Fusion. Her extensive touring footprint includes appearances at the Pump House Theatre, The Tranquil Turtle, Reading Biscuit Factory, Soulscape Bushey, The Vocal Club Northampton, Barratts, HMV Westfield, Soul Brother Records, Jungla Afro Alternatives Camden, Eight Six Harrow, Off The Record Milton Keynes, The Cellar Bar Bedford, The Herd Bedford, Angel Bar Caversham, Art & Soul Café St Neots, Buckstar Brewery, and Daleys Kempston. On June 14, 2025, her headline performance at HMV The Vault earned her a permanent induction onto the prestigious HMV Wall of Fame.

Her discography spans 17 albums, beginning with In His Time (1996), Changes (2003), Tell Um (2006), My Journey (2008), Melodic (2011), Love Letters, Love Letters 2, and Live, Love & Laugh (2012), The Songbird (2013), Funk Rhythm & Soul (2014), The Soul Singer and Can You Dig It (2015). Her 2024 album Valuable People earned Album of the Year from Soul Sation Radio UK and ranked in Radio TeeRex Canada’s Top 40 Albums of the Year, while charting on the Solar Radio UK Chart. She followed with the 1972 EP (February 2025), the full 1972 LP (June 2025), Said MAN! (November 2025), and the cinematic soundtrack album Who’s Clyde (June 2026), which held the #7 position on Stretch Taylor’s Mi‑Soul Radio Top 20 Chart for two consecutive months. Her forthcoming Black Girl Hippie era begins with the single Give You My Heart, premiering on Mi‑Soul Radio on October 24, 2026, followed by the Black Girl Hippie EP (March 2027) and full album (June 2027).

Gina’s ability to bridge genres has led to elite collaborations with global industry greats. She was featured as lead vocalist and lyric co‑writer alongside Dave Lee and hip‑hop legend Leroy Burgess on Love Walked in the Room from Produced with Love 2, which earned thousands of downloads and physical sales. She has worked closely with award‑winning producer and pianist Kevin Flournoy, and built a powerful partnership with Grammy Award‑winning guitarist Michael J. Calhoun of the legendary Dazz Band, who contributed guitar to her single Smile, the 1972: Give Love EP, and selected her as lead vocalist for The Kinsman Dazz Band’s single There. Her releases have received heavy rotation from iconic presenters across Jazz FM, Mi‑Soul Radio, Solar Radio, BBC Radio London, and BBC Radio Northampton, collectively reaching over 600,000 listeners.

Alongside her music career, Gina is an award‑winning filmmaker who has written, produced, directed, filmed, and edited 17 films, including Aspire to Inspire, The Unexpected, The Assumptions, The One Year Pact, Acts of Kindness, Rose England, The Star Connection, and her 2026 cinematic soul‑funk comedy Who’s Clyde, which also earned festival honours including the Assorti Film Festival Heavenly Award, and official selections from FilmMakers Sessions Volume 2, Follow Your Heart NY, and Stay Gold Film Festival. Her films have also received awards and nominations from Cinemafest, the Nevada International Film Festival, the Miami Epic Trailer Festival, IndustryBOOST, Hollywood Screenings Film Festival, and multiple honours from Los Angeles CineFest. She has created numerous web series, talk shows, and stage plays, and has collaborated professionally as an editor for Mayhem Productions Global and as 2nd Assistant Director for Sony Music’s Kane Brown on the music video Lose It.

Gina’s journalism career is equally distinguished. She has conducted more than 350 interviews with A‑list celebrities and independent artists, including The O’Jays, Doug E. Fresh, Kenny Lattimore, and Academy Award‑winner Louis Gossett Jr. Known for her integrity, clean family‑friendly content, and deeply respectful interviewing style, Gina has built a reputation as a journalist who uplifts, protects, and honours the stories of the people she interviews. Her magazine covers are instantly recognisable—each one personally designed by Gina to reflect the personality, energy, and artistic identity of the featured individual.

During the global pandemic, when live performances and film production came to a halt, Gina launched The Indie Post Magazine to help struggling entertainers and small businesses remain visible. What began as a way to stay active in her own career quickly grew into one of the most successful independently run entertainment magazines, showcasing hundreds of creatives worldwide. She later launched What Is Hip Magazine, which also became a major independent success story. Today, Gina is the CEO, Founder, Owner, President, Head Editor, and Publisher of GNA Universal Media, overseeing The Indie Post Magazine, What Is Hip Magazine, NDME TV Network, Indie Soul Radio, Indie Music TV, and Gico Music—an independent media empire dedicated to championing creativity across music, film, journalism, and broadcasting.

Across all her work, Gina Sedman continues to build her own chapter within the tradition of soul, funk, cinema, and independent storytelling. She is an American artist living in the United Kingdom, a filmmaker, a journalist, a musician, a publisher, and a completely independent voice—known worldwide as The Black Girl Hippie, a name that reflects not only her style, but her spirit, her message, her humanity, and her unwavering belief that real art comes from God, from truth, and from the soul.