Ledisi, also known as Ledisi Anibade Young is an American R&B singer, songwriter and recording artist from New Orleans, U.S.
Growing up in a musical family where both her mother and step father performed in local bands, Ledisi began singing live at the age of eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. In 1990 she was nominated for a Shellie award for her performance in a production of “The Wiz” and sung vocals for a run with the cabaret group Beach Blanket Babylon, before studying piano and opera at the University of California Berkeley, in their Young Musicians Program.
After studying music she formed a jazz and hip-hop band called Anibade alongside fellow musicians Sundra Manning, Phoenix Normand, Cedrickke Dennis, Nelson Braxton, Wayne Braxton and Rob Rhodes. The band achieved a kind of cult-status in the San Francisco, U.S. Bay Area although failed to get signed to a major label.
Ledisi’s debut album “Soulsinger: The Revival” was released independently on her own label LeSun Records in 2000, and her follow-up 2002’s “Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue” won the singer the award for “Outstanding Jazz Album” at the California Music Awards.
In 2007 after a short hiatus in which she questioned whether she wanted to remain in the music industry, Ledisi signed with Verve Records and released her third studio album “Lost & Found”. The album saw a string of positive reviews, sold over 200,000 copies and earned her two Grammy nominations. 2008 saw the singer release a Christmas album named “It’s Christmas” and perform the song “The Man I Love” in the “Leatherheads” movie.
After touring with R&B singer Kem on his North American tour Ledisi’s released her album “Pieces of Me” in 2011 the release was her most commercially successful and received three Grammy Nominations for Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for the title track. Ledisi’s released her danceable and upbeat seventh studio album entitled “The Truth” in March 2014.
Will Varley
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