Ledisi

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ledisi


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Background = solo_singer
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Origin = New Orleans, Louisiana flagicon|USA
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Genre = R&B, Soul
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Years_active = 1995–present
Label = Verve Forecast
LeSun Records
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URL = [http://www.ledisi.com Ledisi.com]
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Ledisi Anibade Young (pronEng|ˈlɛdɨsiː) is a Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter from New Orleans. Her first name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. [http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifoxq8kldte~T1 Ledisi] at Allmusic.com]

Biography

Ledisi grew up in a musical family; her mother sang in a Louisiana R&B band, and Ledisi first began performing at age eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. She moved to Oakland, California, where she was nominated for a Shellie award in 1990 for her performance in a production of "The Wiz" and performed in an extended run with the San Francisco cabaret troupe, Beach Blanket Babylon. She studied opera and piano for five years at University of California Berkeley in their Young Musicians Program.

In the 1990s, she formed a group called Anibade, alongside Sundra Manning (producer, keyboards, songwriting), Cedrickke Dennis (guitar), Nelson Braxton (bass), Wayne Braxton (sax), and Tommy Bradford (drums), playing a jazz and hip-hop influenced kind of soul. The group won acclaim in the Bay Area, and recorded a demo which scored airplay on local stations. Ledisi tried to get the group signed to a major label, but had no luck, and the group released its first album, "Soulsinger", independently in January 2000.

Her second album, "Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue", was also released independently in 2002, and is now a collector's item. During this time she also recorded commercials for the SCI FI Channel. In 2007, she signed with Verve, and her major-label debut, "Lost & Found", was released on August 28, 2007. A single from this album, "Alright", has hit #65 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. [ [http://wm06.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifoxq8kldte~T5 Billboard singles] , Allmusic.com]

Another video and single called "In the Morning" was released. It stars Ledisi and Christian Keyes.

Ledisi is known for her jazz influenced vocals. She is often compared to Ella Fitzgerald and is known for her scat style of singing.

In December 2007 she received a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist. [ [http://www.grammy.com] Grammy.com] Ledisi made an appearance in the film "Leatherheads". [http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2008/ledisi-0708.html] She appeared on Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns soundtrack.

Awards/Nominations

*BET Awards
**2008, BET J Cool Like Dat Award (Nominated)

*Grammy Awards
**2008, Best New Artist (Nominated)
**2008, Best R&B Album: "Lost & Found" (Nominated)

Discography

*"Soulsinger" ( [http://www.lesunmusic.com/ LeSun Records] , 2000)
*"Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue" (LeSun, 2002)
*"Lost & Found" (Verve Forecast, 2007)
*"It's Christmas" (Verve Forecast, 2008)

Other Appearances

The reference for all tracks listed below can be found [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ledisi here] . [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ledisi]

References

External links

* [http://www.ledisi.com Official Website]
* [http://com3.runboard.com/bspeakoutorganically Official Messageboard]
* [http://www.myspace.com/ledisi Official Myspace]