Ledisi

Born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, Ledisi trained between church, musical theatre and the Bay Area stages, a background that informs the blend of contemporary R&B, soul, neo-soul and jazz in her repertoire. After early work with the group Anibade and co-founding the independent label LeSun Music with Sundra Manning, Ledisi released Soulsinger in 2000, still marked by funk and R&B, before exploring jazz more directly on Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue in 2002. Her time at Verve then established a broader songwriting approach, spanning soul ballads, R&B production and gospel inflections, with Lost & Found (2007), It’s Christmas (2008), Turn Me Loose (2009), Pieces of Me (2011), The Truth (2014) and Let Love Rule (2017). Returning to independence via Listen Back Entertainment, Ledisi continued this trajectory with The Wild Card (2020), the tribute project Ledisi Sings Nina (2021), Good Life (2024) and The Crown (2025). Alongside her music career, Ledisi has also worked on stage and screen, notably in Caroline, or Change on Broadway and portraying Mahalia Jackson on film.