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Shareef Ali is a songwriter, composer and performer living in Oakland, California. Shareef’s parents traveled from opposite corners of the globe to raise their two children in the American Midwest, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. He began performing original songs at sixteen, with a poignant lyrical style reminiscent of Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and Joanna Newsom, set over the warm twang of a ‘72 Telecaster or the comforting pluck of an Alvarez steel-string acoustic.

Shareef studied Music Composition at Oberlin College with Randy Coleman, Lewis Nielson and Richard Hoffman. In 2007, Shareef Ali moved to the Bay Area, and has performed at such venues as Nomad Café in Oakland; Socha Café and Bazaar Café in San Francisco; he has also appeared as the featured act at the Starry Plough’s open mic. In 2008, Shareef recorded a five-song solo acoustic demo, Music From And Inspired By Our Doomed Love Affair.