[wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] was one of R&B's best-kept secrets, a successful and dynamic independent artist with a couple well-regarded albums to her credit, until she reached a new level with [wimpLink albumId="694736"]Lost & Found[/wimpLink] (2007). The start of a decade-long association with Verve Forecast and an even lengthier partnership with fellow songwriter/producer [wimpLink artistId="6231678"]Rex Rideout[/wimpLink], the album went Top Ten R&B/hip-hop, spawned a handful singles embraced by radio, and led to Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best R&B Album. The proper [wimpLink artistId="4100019"]Verve[/wimpLink] LPs that followed, namely [wimpLink albumId="4402278"]Turn Me Loose[/wimpLink] (2009), [wimpLink albumId="7795650"]Pieces of Me[/wimpLink] (2011), [wimpLink albumId="26524595"]The Truth[/wimpLink] (2014), and [wimpLink albumId="78797344"]Let Love Rule[/wimpLink] (2017), all deeply rooted in traditional R&B with modern finesse, were met with similar or greater commercial success and routine recognition from the Recording Academy. [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] has since returned to independence with [wimpLink albumId="146693258"]The Wild Card[/wimpLink] (2020) and [wimpLink albumId="189260478"]Ledisi Sings Nina[/wimpLink] (2021) on her newly launched Listen Back Entertainment label. The first of those two features the Grammy-winning "Anything for You." A versatile performer, [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] also holds the rare (quite possibly unique) distinction of having played both Dorothy (in a stage production of The Wiz) and [wimpLink artistId="340"]Mahalia Jackson[/wimpLink] (in Ava DuVernay's Selma).<br/>[wimpLink artistId="13226357"]Ledisi Young[/wimpLink] was born in the Big Easy, where she sang at the age of eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, and spent many adolescent hours watching her mother perform with a local R&B band. After the family relocated to Oakland, [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] followed her mother's lead and sang in a band, but left to form her own identity and group as she broadened her performance range. She played Dorothy in a local production of The Wiz, for which she earned a Shellie Award nomination in 1990, and then became widely noted for her performances in the long-running San Francisco cabaret Beach Blanket Babylon. [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] also formed the band Anibade (her middle name). While the lineup was similar to that of [wimpLink artistId="34576"]Rufus & Chaka Khan[/wimpLink], the sound -- on record anyway -- was mellower and sometimes fused R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and funk. The band built a hot reputation in the Bay Area. This prompted [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] to seek a deal with major recording companies, all of which praised and turned her down in the same breath. <br/>Frustrated but not defeated, she cut her debut solo LP, Soulsinger, and released it with the help of musical partner [wimpLink artistId="3918364"]Sundra "Sun" Manning[/wimpLink] on LeSun Music, the label the two co-founded, in 2000. Sold at [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink]'s numerous gigs, the album did well without the benefit of a major distributor, received critical acclaim, and found audiences in England, the Netherlands, and across Scandinavia. After she further illustrated her range with the 2001 follow-up Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue, and through Tommy Boy Records re-released Soulsinger (retitled Soulsinger: The Revival), she signed with [wimpLink artistId="4100019"]Verve[/wimpLink] subsidiary Verve Forecast and formed a long-term creative bond with songwriter/producer [wimpLink artistId="6231678"]Rex Rideout[/wimpLink]. Her third studio album, [wimpLink albumId="694736"]Lost & Found[/wimpLink], was released in 2007 and reached number 78 on the Billboard 200 (number ten R&B/hip-hop). Two of its singles, "Alright" and "In the Morning," peaked within the Top 50 of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart. Due to [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink]'s everlasting appeal to the radio format termed urban adult contemporary, the songs fared even better on the adult R&B chart. Longtime fans no doubt chuckled when [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] was listed among the 2007 Grammy nominees for Best New Artist. [wimpLink albumId="694736"]Lost & Found[/wimpLink] was also nominated that year for Best R&B Album.<br/>[wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] recorded [wimpLink albumId="3947573"]It's Christmas[/wimpLink] for the 2008 holiday season, and released her fourth proper album, [wimpLink albumId="4402278"]Turn Me Loose[/wimpLink], the next year. The appropriately titled LP, filled with some of her hardest-hitting songs, featured collaborations with [wimpLink artistId="4157970"]Jimmy Jam[/wimpLink] and [wimpLink artistId="5802212"]Terry Lewis[/wimpLink], as well as [wimpLink artistId="30184"]Raphael Saadiq[/wimpLink]. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 14, topped the R&B/hip-hop chart, and resulted in another pair of Grammy nominations: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (for the [wimpLink artistId="6231678"]Rex Rideout[/wimpLink] collaboration "Goin' Thru Changes") and Best R&B Album. [wimpLink albumId="7795650"]Pieces of Me[/wimpLink] followed in 2011 with two of her biggest hits, namely the title song and the [wimpLink artistId="30072441"]Jaheim[/wimpLink] duet "Stay Together," both Top Five adult R&B hits. This was her first Top Ten entry on the Billboard 200 and narrowly missed the top spot on the R&B/hip-hop chart. Grammy nominations for Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Performance -- the latter two for the title song -- followed suit. Between albums, [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] co-wrote and fronted [wimpLink artistId="3633140"]Robert Glasper Experiment[/wimpLink]'s Grammy-nominated "It's Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)." Her own [wimpLink albumId="26524595"]The Truth[/wimpLink], featuring a surprising amount of uptempo material without any pop concessions, followed in 2014 and became her fourth straight Top Ten R&B/hip-hop release. "Like This," made with [wimpLink artistId="6231678"]Rideout[/wimpLink], nabbed yet another Best R&B Performance nomination. <br/>A couple weeks after the 2015 U.S. release of the Academy Award-nominated Selma, in which [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] portrayed gospel great [wimpLink artistId="340"]Mahalia Jackson[/wimpLink], the singer released [wimpLink albumId="26524595"]The Intimate Truth[/wimpLink], an EP of acoustic versions. In 2017, she returned with the number two R&B/hip-hop album [wimpLink albumId="78797344"]Let Love Rule[/wimpLink]. The set naturally yielded three more nominations from the Recording Academy: Best R&B Album, Best Traditional R&B Performance ("All the Way"), and Best R&B Performance ("High"). The nominated songs were her fifth and sixth singles to hit the adult R&B Top Ten. Newly independent as the CEO of Listen Back Entertainment, [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] returned in April 2020 with "Anything for You" as a prelude to her eighth proper studio album. [wimpLink albumId="146693258"]The Wild Card[/wimpLink] was issued four months later, and "Anything for You" ultimately won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance. [wimpLink artistId="16978"]Ledisi[/wimpLink] then recorded [wimpLink albumId="189260478"]Ledisi Sings Nina[/wimpLink] with support from [wimpLink artistId="7110274"]the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra[/wimpLink] and [wimpLink artistId="4631340"]the Metropole Orkest[/wimpLink]. Released in July 2021, it coincided with a PBS special and a series of performances further celebrating the influence of [wimpLink artistId="1684"]Nina Simone[/wimpLink]. ~ Andy Kellman & Andrew Hamilton