Kelela

After years of trial and error, singer and songwriter Kelela hit upon a compelling blend of R&B and electronic music that’s made her a rising star. • The only child of Ethiopian immigrants, Kelela was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in suburban Maryland. • Although she sang and played the violin in her youth, she temporarily shelved her music dreams when her family could not afford to send her to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C. • After discovering experimental jazz in the early 2000s, Kelela found her way back to music performance, and by 2007, she had begun singing at open mic nights. Stifled by the rigidity of the jazz scene, Kelela soon joined the indie band Dizzy Spells and even experimented with progressive metal. • In 2010, she relocated to Los Angeles. There, she met producer Prince William, who signed her to his independent label FADE TO MIND. • Several publications cited her 2013 debut mixtape, Cut 4 Me, as one of the best records of the year. The track “Go All Night” appears on Solange’s 2013 Saint Heron compilation project. • Kelela’s 2017 debut album Take Me Apart hit No. 3 on the UK R&B chart and cracked the Top 20 of Billboard’s R&B chart in the US.