Woodbury family band NunnAbove is a cut above the rest

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - At The Armory in downtown Minneapolis, a passion project is taking center stage. A lot of bands may feel like family, but this one actually is.

NunnAbove is made up of four siblings. Cadence Nunn on bass, her sister Mattie on keyboards, and their brothers Bennett on guitar and Wisdom on drums.

On this day, they are covering Prince's "She's Always In My Hair" at the Minneapolis Downtown Council's annual meeting, but their performance makes it clear, NunnAbove is a cut above the rest. 

"For me, I love the ability to put my whole self into any music that I'm playing or making. I love the authenticity of it," said Cadence.

Their sound has been described as alternative positive pop.

"I feel like we're more eclectic. We play neo-soul. We play jazz. We play gospel. We can play anything, really," said Cadence.

But they are more than just kin. They're kindred spirits. 

"We do a lot of fusion stuff. We'll take a lot of different vibes and do something that we think sounds good," said Mattie.

The band started 10 years ago when the siblings performed a song for family at Christmas that led to regular gigs at their church.

"As we've been doing it, it's just been picking up and picking up. Recently, it seems like it's coming to an apex, and that's how we started gigging," said Bennett.

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In addition to performing at corporate events and community gatherings around town, the band appeared on America's Got Talent a few years back.

"That was really cool to just be like, wow, we're on that stage. We can see ourselves clearly. We're singing this song in front of these judges. That was such a fun experience," said Wisdom. 

They were also invited to Paisley Park to be part of Prince's annual birthday celebration, where they met Chaka Khan who asked them to open for her at the State Fair Grandstand last summer.

"The piece of it that was really shocking to me was there wasn't room for an opener. She gave us time from her set to open. When I found that out I was like wow! Thank you," said Cadence.

But writing, and performing their own music takes a lot of work.

They practice at least two hours a day, seven days a week and they aren't always in harmony at home, where three of the four siblings live with their parents, who are also their co-managers.

"Being a group of four individuals who share blood and play together, it's really important to fight. Right? We do that really well. We fight every day. Every day. Yeah, That's okay," said Mattie.

Still, being able to make music together after all these years seems to make it all worthwhile.

"It's too much of a commitment for me, I think, to do it with other people. It's tough doing this as a family, but it's just so much better because you're with the people that you love," said Wisdom.

With one album under their belt and another on the way, the siblings want to turn their part-time passion into a full-time profession.

 "We want to tour. I want to make music that inspires people. I've always said I want someone to hear my music, hear our music in the car and have that make their day or be like, okay, this is a sense of relief for me today. I think all of us want to be just together and do our thing for as long as possible," said Cadence.

To find out more information about NunnAbove and watch their music videos, click here.