Meshell Ndegeocello (born August 29, 1968) is the name of American funk, soul and hip-hop singer, songwriter and rapper originally Michelle Lynn Johnson.
Born in Berlin, Germany in the late ’60’s Johnson’s father was an Army Sergeant Major and a saxophonist and her mother a health care worker. The family moved to Washington D.C. where the singer changed her surname to Ndegeocello meaning “free like a bird” at the age of 17.
The singer began learning the ropes on Washington D.C.’s go-go circuit in the 1980’s with the bands Prophecy, Little Bennie and Rare Essence. The singer moved to New York City, U.S. after studying music for a short time at Howard University. Ndegeocello soon stood out from the pack performing solo with a bass guitar, drum machine and keyboard and caught the attention of Madonna’s Maverick label.
Ndegeocello’s debut album in 1993 “Plantation Lullabies” was produced with the help of David Gamson, André Betts and Bob Power. The album received much critical success and spawned the hit “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night)” and was awarded three Grammy nominations for her effort. Released a year after brought Ndegeocello to the mainstream performing a cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night” a duet with singer John Mellendcamp, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her long awaited follow-up album “Peace Beyond Passion” got its release in 1996 and peaked at No. 63 on the Billboard 200, higher than her debut and was nominated for Best R&B album. Produced by Gamson, the album features the song “Who Is He (And What Is He to You?” a Bill Withers’ cover, which became a U.S. club hit, topping Billboard’s club chart.
Three later after a little collaborative work with Queen Pen on the track “Girlfriend” the singer released her third studio album “Bitter” released in 1999. 2002 saw her released the sprawling mixtape “Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape” followed by “Comfort Woman” in 2003. The subsequent album “Dance of the Infidel” saw Ndegeocello include a host of jazz influences and collaborate with a number of musicians from the jazz world.
Ndegeocello’s sound is defined by her eclecticism and reluctance to do the same thing twice, with R&B, funk, soul as well as hip-hop and jazz influencing her sound, she has long been renowned for her distinctive genre blend and has often been credited for sparking the neo-soul movement.
In keeping with Ndegeocello’s unpredictability she made her debut on the classical label Decca with the album “The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams” featuring guitarist Pat Metheny. Since then she has released “Devil’s Halo” in 2009 a pop-inspired album, “Weather” in 2011 on Naïve Records, “Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone” and the highly introspective 2014 release “Comet, Come to Me”.
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