Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band

Biography

Sharde Thomas was born in North Mississippi in 1990 and she is the granddaughter of the North Mississippi fife player, the late Otha Turner. Sharde started playing the fife and the drum set at the age of 7 and continued her music journey throughout high school as a flute player. Otha would have Labor Day picnics each year in Gravel Springs, MS and Sharde would play drums for different bands at the picnic. In her childhood years she played the fife, djembe and would also sing with her grandfather, Otha at local performances. After Otha passed in 2003 Sharde took the Rising Stars under her wings and started traveling with the band full time. Juggling school, being a teenager and managing a band was hard work, but the key was to keep Otha’s tradition alive. She attended Northwest in 2008, where she played the flue in the Northwest band. Sharde speaks at libraries, churches, museums, and universities about carrying her grandfather’s tradition on.

Sharde released her duet album in 2010 titled “What Do I Do” and released her sophomore album in 2013 titled “Shawty Blues”. Shawty Blues was released with the fellowship grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission which Sharde received in 2013. Sharde has worked with greats like Eric Clapton, Mavis Staples, Cyndi Lauper, Bobby Rush, Valerie June, The North Mississippi All-stars, The Wandering, Luther Dickinson, and many others. In 2017 Sharde was featured on the “Blues and Ballads” which was nominated for a Grammy and also nominated in 2018 for “Up and Rolling”. Sharde Thomas: Legacy of the Fife, was produced by Jeff Dennis in 2018. In 2021 Sharde had the pleasure of being a part of the debute of the Voices of Mississippi hosted at the Ford Center in Oxford, MS. She will be featured as a TEDx speaker at the 2022 event. Sharde is currently a Head Start teacher and she continues traveling throughout the world with the Rising Stars.