Joy Keys chats with 4x Grammy nominated Singer Ledisi

Ledisi Young (her given name meaning "to bring forth" in Nigerian) was born in the Big Easy, where she sang with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra when she was eight years old and spent many adolescent hours watching her mother perform with a local R&B band, often in a nearby park. After the family relocated to Oakland, CA, Ledisi followed her mother's lead and sang in a local band, but left to form her own group and identity. She became widely noted for her performances in Beach Blanket Babylon, a long-running San Francisco-based cabaret featuring song parodies, celebrity impersonations, and enormous hats; she got the gig after being nominated for a Shellie Award in 1990 for her role as Dorothy in a local version of The Wiz. She later formed Anibade (Ledisi's middle name), which depending on what you read means "to bring forth luck" or "my mother is great" in Yoruba.

In 2000, Ledisi released her first album, entitled Soulsinger: The Revival. Ledisi and her group toured in 2001, performing various shows. In 2002, Ledisi released her second album, Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue. The album won her an award for "Outstanding Jazz Album" at the California Music Awards.

In 2007, Ledisi signed a major record deal with Verve Forecast and released her third album in August of that year, entitled Lost & Found, which sold almost 217,000 copies and earned her two Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist. In 2008, Ledisi released her Christmas album, It's Christmas.

In 2009, Ledisi released her fourth album Turn Me Loose, which earned her 2 Grammy nominations.

Her latest album is ‘Pieces of Me’. Check out www.ledisi.com