Amina Claudine Myers was born on March 21, 1942. She is an American musician who plays the piano and organ, sings, writes music, and helps plan musical performances.

Biography

Myers was born in Blackwell, Arkansas. She was mostly raised by her great-aunt, who was a schoolteacher, and her great-uncle, who was a carpenter and played the clarinet, piano, and flute. She began piano lessons around age four, including at Sacred Hearts Catholic School. When she was seven, her family moved to Roosevelt, a Black community near Dallas, Texas. She took piano and violin lessons, but later, because of financial reasons, she chose to focus on the piano and took weekly lessons that lasted fifteen minutes each. She started learning some European classical music in high school, but this was interrupted when her family moved back to Blackwell.

Myers studied music education at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. In her second year, she was invited to perform at The Safari Room in Memphis, Tennessee. However, this performance was short because she had a limited number of songs she could play. After graduating, she moved to Chicago in 1963. There, she taught music at an elementary school. She also took classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians like Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. She performed at the AACM's second concert. In the late 1960s, Myers added "Amina" to her name.

In 1976, Myers moved to New York City. There, she focused more on composing and expanded her work into Off-Broadway productions. She continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist. Around 1978, she started touring in Europe with the Lester Bowie Quintet and his New York Organ Ensemble.

Discography

• Poems for Piano: The Piano Music of Marion Brown (Sweet Earth, 1979)
• Song for Mother E with Pheeroan akLaff (Leo, 1980)
• Salutes Bessie Smith (Leo, 1980)
• The Circle of Time (Black Saint, 1983)
• Jumping in the Sugar Bowl (Minor Music, 1984)
• Country Girl (Minor Music, 1986)
• Amina (RCA Novus, 1987)
• In Touch (RCA Novus, 1989)
• Women In (E)Motion Festival (Tradition & Moderne, recorded in 1988 and released in 2004)
• Augmented Variations (Amina C records, 2004)
• Sama Rou (Amina C records, 2016)
• Solace of the Mind (Red Hook Records, 2025)

With Muhal Richard Abrams
• Lifea Blinec (Arista Novus, 1978)
• Spihumonesty (Black Saint, 1979)
• Duet (Black Saint, 1981)

With the Art Ensemble of Chicago
• Salutes the Chicago Blues Tradition (AECO, 1993)

• Blythe Spirit (Columbia, 1981)

• African Children (Horo, 1978)
• The Fifth Power (Black Saint, 1978)
• The Organizer (DIW, 1991)
• Funky T. Cool T. (DIW, 1991)

• Exotic Heartbreak (Soul Note, 1981)

With Maurice McIntyre
• Humility in the Light of the Creator (Delmark, 1969)

• Season of Renewal (JMT, 1990)

• Afro Indian Blues (recorded in 1991 and released in 2006)

With Wadada Leo Smith
• Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook, 2024)

With Third Rail (James Blood Ulmer & Bill Laswell)
• South Delta Space Age (Antilles, 1995)

With Henry Threadgill
• X-75 Volume 1 (1979)
• Subject to Change (1985)
• Song Out of My Trees (1994)

With James Blood Ulmer
• Blue Blood (Innerythmic, 2000)