Canadian guitarist Donna Grantis leads a five-piece group that is wholly unique in today’s music scene. Backed by an acclaimed rhythm section, Donna’s incendiary guitar playing is highlighted against the percussive tabla rhythms of guru Suphala to create a sound described by The Minneapolis Star Tribune as, “New millennium jazz-rock fusion, sorta like Jeff Beck meets a post-modern Mahavishnu Orchestra.”
Grantis is best known for performing with Prince in his groups 3RDEYEGIRL and New Power Generation. As co-lead guitarist in Prince’s most rock heavy band (3RDEYEGIRL), Grantis was named one of fifty sensational female guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine: “Trading blazing solos with the late Purple One on a nightly basis, she proved her mettle, and earned a place in guitar history.” Grantis composed the title track to Prince & 3RDEYEGIRL’s 2014 release, PLECTRUMELECTRUM, which soared to #1 on the Billboard Rock Chart. She toured with Prince throughout the UK, Europe, and North America, with notable performances including three nights headlining the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Essence Festival in New Orleans, the Baltimore Rally 4 Peace concert, and a historic performance at The White House for President Barack Obama and family. Grantis has shared the stage with Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Janelle Monáe, and Kendrick Lamar.
In the fall of 2018, Grantis released an exclusive 7” featuring new songs “TRASHFORMER” and “VIOLETTA” in collaboration with guitarist Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) and his vinyl label HockeyTalkter Records. Her full length debut album, DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE, released in the Spring of 2019 via eOne Music to much critical acclaim.
From guitarworld.com
Donna Grantis: “Prince taught me about articulation, attitude, power and tones”
By: RICHARD BIENSTOCK
“Diamonds & Dynamite is Donna Grantis’ debut full-length solo album, but the 32-year-old Toronto-born guitarist already has plenty of pedigree.
Most significantly, there was her stint playing electric guitar alongside Prince from 2013 until his death in 2016 – she served as co-lead guitarist...
From artsfile.ca
TD Ottawa Jazz Festival: On a musical journey with Donna Grantis
By: PETER ROBB
“Donna Grantis’s older brother had this acoustic guitar, you see, and one summer when she was about 13 she thought she’d pick it up and learn some chords.
‘I checked out the tab for Stairway to Heaven and there was no looking back.’
The...
From All Music
Donna Grantis – Diamonds & Dynamite
By: Sean Westergaard
If you know Donna Grantis’ name, it’s probably because of her association with Prince. As a member of 3rdEyeGirl, she had the daunting task of being the second guitarist in Prince’s band. Diamonds & Dynamite is her debut album, but don’t expect a continuation of 3rdEyeGirl’s music. On...
From At Large Magazine
DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE
By: Jennifer Parker
If you don’t know who Donna Grantis is, you might know her music and if you don’t know her music, you just might know the names of some of the people who she’s played guitar with like Prince (yeah, that one) or Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. On stage, with...
From The Current
Donna Grantis brings ‘Diamonds & Dynamite’ to The Current studio
By: Mark Wheat, Cecilia Johnson & Lydia Moran
Donna Grantis is the featured player in her new band, and she doesn’t even need a mic. Three years after playing guitar with 3RDEYEGIRL and Prince, Grantis has released her debut solo album, Diamonds & Dynamite.
After Prince’s death...
From Exclaim!
Ex-Prince Guitarist Donna Grantis Channels Prince, Toronto and Improvisation on New Album ‘Diamonds & Dynamite’
By: Ryan B Patrick
“Prince was and is an inspiration; there are so many things that I’ve learned from him that I really tried to apply to this new project,” says Donna Grantis of her debut solo album, Diamonds & Dynamite.
[…] Diamonds...
From Associated Press
Review: Ex-Prince guitarist Donna Grantis explores fusion
By: Pablo Gorondi
Recorded live-to-tape in just two days, a pace similar to that of many great jazz albums, Diamonds & Dynamite is an experimentally adventurous set, which contains ample evidence why Prince held Grantis in such high regard.
Read more here
From CTV – Your Morning
Guitarist Donna Grantis shares her story of being discovered by Prince on YouTube
Donna Grantis speaks with CTV about her new album and the story of being discovered by Prince. Watch the full interview below.
Read more here
From NOW Toronto
What Donna Grantis learned from playing with Prince
By: Michael Rancic
Mississauga-born Grantis played co-lead guitar in Prince’s 3RDEYEGIRL and the New Power Generation band, who backed him in the period before his death in 2016. On the road and in photos they were regularly outfitted by Call & Response’s Lori Marcuz and Cathy Robinson. Though Grantis...
From MusicRadar
Donna Grantis: “It’s all about rhythmic precision and the attack on your notes – that’s one of the things Prince instilled in me”
By: Amit Sharma
‘I have such good memories of being in London,’ begins guitarist Donna Grantis. It would be fair to say those memories don’t really count as normal memories – instead of a few...
From Billboard
Prince Collaborator Donna Grantis Shares ‘Diamonds & Dynamite’ Title Track: Premiere
By: Gary Graff
Donna Grantis understandably had the late Prince on her mind while making her new solo album, Diamonds & Dynamite, whose title track is premiering exclusively below.
The guitarist, a Toronto native, played with Prince as part of 3RDEYEGIRL and the New Power Generation. She...
From Riff Magazine
Tuesday Tracks: Your Weekly New Music Discovery ‘” Jan. 22
By: Max Heilman
Donna Grantis, ‘Diamonds & Dynamite’ ‘” If Pat Metheny got high with King Crimson, the resulting jam session would likely sound an awful lot like guitarist Donna Grantis’s solo work. ‘Diamonds & Dynamite’ uses crunchy prog-rock riffs as a counterpoint to meditative improvisation and...
From Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Former Prince guitarist Donna Grantis releases new music with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready
By: Ross Raihala
Donna Grantis ‘” of whom Prince once said ‘can whup every man on guitar, bar none’ ‘” has released a pair of new songs, ‘Trashformer’ and ‘Violetta’ with a high-profile guest musician, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. The two...
From Sacks & Co
GUITARIST DONNA GRANTIS RELEASES NEW MUSIC IN COLLABORATION WITH HALL OF FAME PEARL JAM GUITARIST MIKE MCCREADY
LIMITED EDITION TRASHFORMER 7’ VINYL NOW AVAILABLE ON HOCKEYTALKTER RECORDS, ALSO ON STREAMING PLATFORMS
DEBUT SOLO ALBUM, DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE, TO BE RELEASED IN EARLY 2019 VIA EONE
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW
‘Donna can whup every man on...
From Minneapolis Star Tribune
Prince’s former musician Donna Grantis plays guitar hero at the Dakota
By: Jon Bream
The most impressive aspect of her 75-minute first set was the range and depth of her stylistic vocabulary as she traveled down eight different lanes of the jazz-rock fusion superhighway in Hendrixian crosstown traffic.
There was only a hint of Princely stylings...
From Cosmopolitan
Get That Life: How I Joined Prince’s Band 3RDEYEGIRL
By: Heather Wood Rudulph
Growing up outside of Toronto in Mississauga, Ontario, Donna Grantis fell in love with classic rock. She had an electric guitar in her hands by age 14 and an unwavering career dream of being an independent musician. Today she plays guitar in 3RDEYEGIRL, a rock...
From Minneapolis City Pages
3rdEyeGirl’s Donna Grantis on how Prince inspired the sound of her new band
By: Danny Sigelman
A jam session with Prince, drummer Hannah Welton, and bassist Ida Nielson turned out to be an audition for a new stripped-down rock band. Grantis passed that audition, and, as a member of 3rdEyeGirl, she traded molten guitar leads with...
From Guitar Player Magazine
Donna Grantis Rocks Prince, 3rdEyeGirl, and the New Power Generation
By: Michael Molenda
Badass. That’s all I have to say. Actually, there is more to reveal, because Donna Grantis didn’t just fall out of the sky. She made the semi-finals in the North American Jimi Hendrix Electric Guitar Competition at 17 years old, and played ‘Red...
Donna can whup every man on guitar, bar none. Prince (V Magazine)
Donna is a phenomenal guitar player with a killer groove and instinct. Mike McCready (Pearl Jam)
Her tones, attack, phrasing, melodic ideas, improvs, grooves, and solos are as terrifyingly on point as a laser-guided drone, and everything is delivered with the unselfconscious swagger that identifies a musician truly in the moment. Guitar Player Magazine
Recorded live-to-tape in just two days, a pace similar to that of many great jazz albums, Diamonds & Dynamite is an experimentally adventurous set, which contains ample evidence why Prince held Grantis in such high regard. Associated Press
The most impressive aspect of her 75-minute first set was the range and depth of her stylistic vocabulary as she traveled down eight different lanes of the jazz-rock fusion superhighway in Hendrixian crosstown traffic. Minneapolis Star Tribune
This year, [Donna] releases her debut solo album, DIAMONDS & DYNAMITE, mixing the bluesy freedom of Jimi Hendrix with the kind of jazzy chromaticism John McLaughlin made famous through his work in Miles Davis’ band and Mahavishnu Orchestra. MusicRadar
An atmospheric, multifaceted voyage into truly magnificent realms of freakish soloing and infectious riffs. From the rhythm section’s simultaneous looseness and cohesion to the otherworldly melodic aura she generates with her own instrument, Grantis may well bear the torch of jazz fusion into the next decade. Riff Magazine
Known for her extraordinary technique and soulful playing, Donna Grantis has a style all her own. Seamlessly blending Jazz, Rock N’ Roll and Electric Blues this Canadian guitarist is capturing audience’s attention. Playing her B5 equipped Starla Paul Reed Smith guitar, she has started down the path to being a legend. Bigsby
