Niamba Ra, Her Musical Journey From The Book Of Mormon To Her Debut Album ‘Stellar Nebula’

An accomplished Broadway actress and singer-songwriter, Keziah “Niambi Ra” John-Paul, has charted a fairly impressive career over the past decade. Born and raised in Washington, DC, her artistic journey is heavily influenced by her mother, who is a dancer, arts administrator, and global arts advocate.

“From about three years old, my mother put me into dance, and from there everything just expanded: music, acting, and more,” Niamba says. “I really gravitated toward acting and took many acting classes.”

This led to a decade or more of formal education in the arts. She attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts in DC, a 96% black public arts high school that requires an audition or portfolio for admission, with a mission to give students access to arts education they might not otherwise have.

Afterward, she enrolled at NYU Tisch for musical theatre. “While in high school, I began making music alongside my work as an acting major. “When I started college, I struggled to choose between musical theatre, music business, or jazz and contemporary music, but I knew I wanted to continue both music and acting,” Niambi recalls.

From getting a job on Broadway as soon as she graduated to starring in the Book of Mormon for about 11 years, Niambi’s musical theatre journey has been interesting. She’s been training her whole life, and she trained extensively at NYU, where she also studied abroad in Ghana for a semester.

“In her senior year, Niambi’s class performed The Wild Party as a student showcase, inviting industry professionals, and the performance prompted them to ask her to audition for The Book of Mormon.”

“This all happened the week before I graduated. I auditioned over several days, and everything felt very fresh—I had just finished school, so my skills were sharp,” she says. “I got the role on my graduation day. The next week, I started on Broadway, and I stayed with the show for 11 years.” 

During this period, she worked in every capacity: a swing, covering all the women’s roles, an understudy, and B. In her final year, she became the lead.

But this never stopped her from writing and performing music. “While I was in The Book of Mormon, that job actually funded my music career, my debut album, performances, studio time, and paying musicians,” she says. 

Her musical theatre experience has now bled into how she shows up as a singer-songwriter. 

“For me, everything goes hand in hand because at the core, I’m a storyteller, whether I’m acting, performing musical theatre, or creating my own music,” Niambi says. “The responsibility to tell stories clearly, authentically, and with high quality comes from my theatre training. I’m also very expressive and a big performer, even in my own music.”

She also records and performs her music with a band, Niambi RA and the Black Stars. “My performances are about giving people a full experience, not just music,” she says.

The theatricality naturally comes through in her work in a way that builds a world. “Even in my recordings, you can hear it in the humor, the ad-libs, and the soundscape. It’s all about creating an immersive experience, much like musical theatre,” she says. 

After a decade, the Broadway role started affecting her mental health, and it felt like the right time to move on to her first love, music.

Released on Niambi’s 33rd birthday, the album title Stellar Nebula means “birth of a star, marking a new chapter for her.

“I think hip hop itself has always carried a vision of Afrofuturism,” she says. “Hip-hop is a way to tell stories that need to be told, to call for action, and to imagine a better future. That sense of futurism is authentically ingrained in the genre, and you’ll hear that influence in my work, alongside the cosmic jazz soundscapes of Sun Ra, sounds that evoke stars, constellations, and the ether.”

Stellar Nebula is about questioning, exploring adversity, and processing personal challenges about myself and my relationships. It’s about moving through darkness, turning poison into medicine, and holding faith for brighter days.

Another influence is that the majority of the songs are live recordings with Niambi’s band playing. “That’s intentional as I’m really passionate about live music,” Niambi says. “This influence comes from growing up in DC, where we had our own genre, Go-Go music, which is driven by live performance.

As a lot of the songs weren’t originally on the album, Niambi approached the cohesion through live performance. “Performing them live created continuity, giving the tracks a shared soundscape even though they started as separate pieces,” she says. “Most of the songs were mixed and mastered by the same person, which helped maintain cohesiveness. And for the other songs, I thought carefully about placement and the story they told.”

Moving forward, she plans to do a big album release performance. 

“I’m in a transitional phase right now, which is beautiful, but I don’t fully know what’s next yet,” Niambi says. I want to keep making music and exploring new sounds. Artistically, I see my work as something that comes from God, something beyond myself. So I want to be more intentional about where I place my art and the stories I tell.”

Currently, she’s focusing on being responsible with her gift and understanding why she’s an artist in the first place.