Goapele

In an industry that advocates monotony, Goapele (Qua-Puh-Lay) is an autonomist - a poster girl for individualism, a non-conformist. Perhaps her bloodline/lineage itself helped hurt her nonconformity. Her New York-born Jewish mother met and married exiled South African political activist Douglas while in Nairobi, Kenya. "What those two cultures faced historically forced my brother and I to be sensitive toward various cultures and social issues. These issues were not only important, but the focus of our everyday lives. Even our musical tastes were diverse. We listened to Sweet Honey and the Rock and Nina Simone, as well as South African music such as Hugh Masekela, Zulu Spear and Miriam Makeba which was banned in South Africa at the time."

For a woman whose name means 'to move forward' in Sitswana, a South African dialect, Goapele is instinctively living up to her moniker. The Bay Area native's debut, Closer spawned after a 9-song promotional disc was distributed to various industry executives and music outlets, yielding an overwhelmingly popular response. Adding 5 new original songs to the debut, resulted in her highly anticipated debut effort, Even Closer, a 14-track album on SkyBlaze Recordings that went on to sell an unprecedented 130,000 units independently. Now Goapele is back with her highly anticipated sophomore album entitled Change it All. The poised chanteuse delivers a testimony-driven, emotionally aching yet uplifting and candidly charged classic cuts to soul music junkies who feign for organic gutbucket vocals and raw bass lines. Goapele brilliantly experiments with skillful compositions and heart wrenching harmonies, all with a smooth as pearl delivery. The songs showcase the singer/songwriter's impeccable ability to mix classic soul with rhythm and blues along with new-age funk, dripping with sensuality. The multi-layered feel-good tracks effortlessly spirals her superb lyrics and velvety voice around carefree bass laden beats instantly garnering her respect for skillfully uniting hip-hop, jazz, R&B and melodic soul. “All of my lyrics come out truthful experiences that I've had, a journal entry or maybe a melody in my head that stemmed into something. But what's important to me that sometimes gets lost in the pop world is that their music doesn't reflect the artist's real life. It's really important to me that I stay true to myself and I'm writing lyrics that I believe and not just to sell,” says Goapele.

Collaborating with a bevy of musical craftsmen who also contributed to Even Closer are Amp Live from Zion I (Mystic, Linkin Park), Digital Underground's DJ Fuze, Pep Love of the Hieroglyphics, Eric Krasno of Soulive and Mike Tiger (The Coup, Martin Luther) Goapele has created the perfect blend of Urban Soul. She either wrote or co-wrote every song and even co-produced several cuts. "I can conveniently fit into a category but I feel there's a wide range of music represented on the CD that ultimately, it doesn't really fit into any one category and I choose to do different kinds of music instead of focusing on one style." Sheer artistic talent, discipline and a busy schedule have led to Goapele's success and a string of engagements that include being invited by Michael Franti to sing with his band, Spearhead on their world tour in the summer of 2001, which included an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. She has also performed on stage with India.Arie, Alicia Keys, Amel Larrieux, Method Man, Erykah Badu, Musiq, Mos Def, Carl Thomas, Common, Talib Kweli, Meshell N’Degeacello, Ledisi and The Roots, as well as opened for the MTV2 Sisters of Soul concert.

Goapele was featured on The Hieroglyphic's introspective track "Soweto," which remained in heavy rotation on MTV and MTV2 and she currently has hot new songs on Raphael Saadiq, Aceyalone and E-40's upcoming albums. The 2003 San Francisco Award winner and California Music Award nominee is being sought out for guest appearances from major recording artists left and right so it comes as no surprise that Meshell N'Degeocello, Shaquille O’Neill, Magic Johnson, Raphael Saadiq, Prince, Method Man and Rodney Jerkins have become huge fans. In fact Erykah Badu was so impressed by her that she nominated Even Closer as the most creative and innovative album for the 2003 ShortList Music Project. Rolling Stone stood adamantly behind Goapele’s success when the magazine and MTV voted her one of the few urban artists included in the “2003 Top Ten Artists to Watch For.”

At this particular juncture, the dread-headed beauty who was influenced as equally by music from Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Nina Simone, Billy Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley and Prince as she was by community, political and social issues, would like to further develop as an artist, vocalist and musician. As a small child, Goapele used her family and friends as her practice audience, singing and performing complimentary shows, steadily fine tuning her musical chops. During her teenager years, she began singing accapella at community events like women retreats and at 14, joined the Oakland Youth Chorus. Towards the end of high school, the songstress decided to pursue music as a professional career, enrolling in the highly competitive and prestigious music school of Berkley College in Boston. From there, Goapele began performing and collaborating with various San Francisco musicians and artists such as Martin Luther, Ledisi and Mystic, circulating her talent and name. "I feel like culturally, it's rich out here in the Bay area. We don't have to just write love songs we can talk about what's going on and audiences are open to that. There's a community here. Prop 21 was a big deal and I along with other artists were on a compilation sharing information through music."

Written and recorded on the West coast, Change it All is the fruit of Goapele's labor and inspiration. During her infrequent idle time, the graceful songbird can be found swaying her lithe figure to the rhythmic drum beats in her Afro-Haitian dance classes. She brings a well-needed enigmatic presence to a mundane industry that's devoid of innovative magic and fascination but thick with semblance. Her aural signature of throaty moans and nostalgic lyrical poetry evoke all things old yet somehow manages to be refreshingly new. "Her vocals shatter souls, leaving audiences begging for more. She can
vocally capture the heart of anyone," says Urban View Newspaper. When she opens her mouth to sing, she doesn't just sing, she rips it. She can't hold back. But then again, moving forward is what Goapele is all about.