Ledisi Anibade Young is an American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter, music producer, author and actress. Her name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba.

​

In 1995, Ledisi formed a band after her middle name Anibade. After unsuccessfully trying to get signed to a major label, she formed LeSun Records with Sundra Manning. Ledisi and Sundra decided to release Ledisi's debut album entitled Soulsinger (black and white cover on the LeSun Music independent label) featuring the song "Take Time", which gained substantial airplay from San Francisco area radio stations.

​

In 2002, Ledisi re-released her first album, titled Soulsinger: The Revival under Tommy Boy Records., featuring a bonus track with Grammy Award Winner Meshell Ndege Ocello on bass. Ledisi also released her second album, Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue, which won "Outstanding Jazz Album" at the California Music Awards.

​

In 2005, Ledisi signed a record deal with Verve Forecast and released her third album, titled Lost & Found, on August 28, 2007; it 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 two Grammy nominations, followed by her fifth album Pieces of Me (2011) which debuted on the US Billboard 200 album chart at number eight, becoming the first top-ten album of her career and her highest-charting album to date. It also garnered three Grammy nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards including for Best R&B Album. In 2013, she received a nomination for Best R&B Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards for her collaboration with fellow R&B and jazz musician Robert Glasper for the album cut "Gonna Be Alright" from his fifth album Black Radio (2012). In 2014, she released her sixth album The Truth to critical acclaim and moderate sales. She portrayed legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, Selma. Since releasing her debut Soulsinger in 2000, Ledisi has released eleven studio albums and earned fourteen Grammy Award nominations to date, winning her first for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Anything For You" in 2021. 

​

Ledisi was born in New Orleans and was raised Catholic in Oakland, California. Ledisi first began performing publicly at age eight with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Ledisi moved to Oakland, California, where she attended McChesney Junior High School, now Edna Brewer Middle School. 

​

She was shy about her singing abilities and would sing only upon request when students in her gym class would implore her to sing Deniece Williams's version of Black Butterfly, bringing the entire classroom audience under the spell of her very mature, melodious voice. As she sang more publicly her music career blossomed and she earned a scholarship to study opera and piano for five years at University of California Berkeley in their Young Musicians Program. Right after graduating from high school she was nominated for a Shellie award for her performance in a production of The Wiz That nomination would lead her to be a long time cast member with the San Francisco cabaret, Beach Blanket Babylon.

 

While working at Beach Blanket Babylon, Ledisi worked at a record shop and waited tables part-time. It was not until she began performing regularly at local clubs like Cafe DuNord, The Elbo Room, Bruno's, Mecca, and Rasselas that she began making a name for herself in the local club scenes in the Bay Area.

 

​

Source.