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The young songstress has a voice beyond her years and is hailed by critics as a soul revival. She includes artists such as James Brown, Roberta Flack, Toni Braxton, Mavis Staples, Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway as influences whilst her vocal abilities and tones are often likened to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. Her debut album 'A Change Is Gonna Come' was praised for its rich, gravelled tone incorporating traditional soul techniques with contemporary genres such as R & B and funk. It included collaborations with Raphael Saadiq and Kanye West.
She is wise beyond her years when it comes to lyricism too, she has an elevated view of the music industry and often condemns the glorification of materialism and misogyny in popular R & B and pop music. She is a firm believer that artists should rely on the credibility of their music and be rewarded for these similarly to how they were in former decades. She released her second album 'Let's Do It Again' through Shanachie Records and the title is a homage to one of her noted influencers, The Staple Sisters. It was far more commercially successful in the States that the debut, peaking at #84 on the US albums chart and #11 on the R & B chart.
That year she received two prestigious award nominations, one from the NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Artist category and another from the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist. With this elevated critical acclaim and notoriety, her third album 'My Soul' sold even better than its predecessor. It peaked at #37 on the US charts and broke the top 10 on the R & B chart. After this Leela decided to release a cover album in tribute to one of her favourite artists, Etta James, and critics praised the beautiful re-imagination of the iconic singer's most popular hits.
Leela James is more than just your average R&B singer. Not only does she have an incredible voice, but she lives every lyric that leaves her lips.
The Los Angeles singer brought that power and emotion when she celebrated the release of her fifth album, ‘Fall for You,’ at B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill in New York City. With a large band to back her up and two singers to add their harmonies to hers, she brought down the house with ‘Good Time’ and ‘Something’s Got a Hold on Me’ and inspired a dance party at the venue. From her high kicks and dropping down to the ground, Leela showed that she’s not afraid to really get into the music. Her dynamics onstage were full of so much energy that she had to go barefoot toward the end of her set. It looked like the spirit of James Brown overtook her and possessed her to go wild on stage.
What made the show even more memorable is her constant interaction with her fans who came from all over the world. Not only did she bring them up onstage to start a dance party, but she even jumped down to the crowd, stood on a chair during ‘Simply Beautiful’ and serenaded the loyalists, who knew just about every word to the song.
In the past, R&B shows were chilled out and mellow (sometimes to the point of boredom). However after seeing Leela’s gig, it revived my interest in seeing more soul singers live. Sure, they usually sing about love, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get down and boogie whilst doing it.
evtan
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