Malina Moye: Thriving in Song

To know guitar player, songwriter, and performer Malina Moye is to know her positive torrent of energy. Truly, the expression “lightning in a bottle” fits Moye aptly. Born into a musical family, the left-handed Moye got her first guitar at 9 years old and flipped it over and upside down so she could play it comfortably. At 12 years old, she started a family band with her siblings. Her bass-playing father and singing mother taught her what to look for when seeing other artists on stage or when parsing their writing. 

Santana, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Mozart were all early influences. But with all that, Moye knew that one day she wanted to find who she was as a solo artist. So, she moved to Los Angeles with just $20 in her pocket. She slept in her car and hunted pennies to have enough for sandwiches. But she made it through. Today, she’s a Billboard chart-topping artist and a killer national anthem player ahead of Minnesota Vikings football games. And Moye’s latest accomplishment is her new album, Dirty, which dropped officially on March 17.