Kimi Tortuga is an indie-folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist known for her velvety vocals, instrumental prowess, and warm stage presence. A Tampa Bay native, she began her musical journey on piano at just 5 years old, and through an elective course in middle school, developed a piqued interest in the clarinet and other wind instruments. Kimi formed an immediate and inconvertible bond with music that transcended all other ambitions, performing for 6 years in recitals, concert and marching bands, full orchestras, theater pits, and other sectional ensembles. After high school graduation and under pressure from family, Kimi took a three-year break from music to explore “real” job options in retail, education, and accounting. Day in and day out, the same old song would play on repeat: wake up, go to work, and come home. Life was planned around the few hours remaining before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day, making the task of finding her own sound outside of classical music seem virtually impossible. Until one morning, it became clear that all those days spent in traffic and in the office making someone else’s dreams come true meant she had one less day to manifest her own. This epiphanic moment inspired Kimi to shatter the mold and chisel her own path out of the marble. She had finally decided to defy the odds and invest in her true vocation: musical performance. Kimi began composing original works on the piano and taught herself to sing, play ukulele, and then guitar by age 21. With gusto, she made her rounds at local open mics, blues jams, and other musical get togethers willing to host her in the bustling Tampa Bay music scene. Though working part-time in accounting by 23 years old, Kimi was also playing any gigs she could at coffee houses, dive bars, and art studios, all while being enrolled full-time in university studying anthropology. Her increasingly diverging interests stretching her energy and focus thin, the budding artist knew that it was time to let one of them go or risk losing them all. So, in March of 2015, Kimi resolved to break the chains of mediocrity and radically change her life. She worked her last shift running payroll and moved to Guanacaste, Costa Rica without knowing a soul there. And it was on the Pacific coastline where Kimi put to practice both the skills required to play live music professionally and her restored sense of authenticity. Now having traveled to and performed in over ten countries in the Americas and Europe, Kimi has developed an ethereal and soulful virtue all her own. Returning to the United States in October of 2017, she descended upon the local music scene with a full performance calendar and renewed confidence in her purpose. Kimi has since recorded and produced original works which stream on all major platforms, and has landed performance contracts with major local events like the Florida State Fair and Tampa’s Rock the Park live music series. With a dream and determination, Kimi Tortuga turned a lifelong passion into a flourishing career and lives her best life in the sunshine by the sea.
