Pharrell Williams And Jermaine Dupri “Sexify” American Idol’s Leah Labelle

29 Jun, 2012 craig Articles, Featured, Front Page

Leah Labelle

Back in 2004 American Idol viewers watched Gospel singer, Fantasia Barrino become a R&B star before their eyes, as she became the season 3’s winner and signed a deal with Clive Davis’ J. Records. But as Idol history has so often indicated, sometimes the singer with the greatest star potential is hidden amongst the eliminated contestants waiting to shine at another time. This is now the case with Leah Labell, Idol’s Season 3 Wild Card contestant who would go on to evolve into the next R&B/Soul singing protégés of Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri in 2012.

When you hear Leah’s story, it sounds like one straight out of the pages of a movie script. But in a way, that is the coolest part about her. She is living proof that after a lot of hard work and persistence, dreams do in fact come true. She was born in Toronto, Canada, but Leah’s story began in the place she calls home, Seattle, Washington. Her immigrant parents, Troshan and Anastasia Vladowski. moved her there as they were defected from communist Bulgaria. It wouldn’t be long until Leah began to take after her parents who were also Pop musicians in the Bulgarian Pop group, Srebyrnite Grivni and Tonika. Leah was bitten by the by the stage bug at an early age, when she began performing publicly in 1990. Also it would not be long until Leah was noticed for her talents for the first of soon to be many times in her development as a singer. In 1997, LaBelle won the Washington State Pre-teen Miss America Pageant and was first runner-up in the National Pageant. Leah continued to sing in the years that followed after She started to showher soulful side when she joined Total Experience Gospel Choir and the Langston Hughes musical, Black Nativity over the following five years.

Leah continued to hone her skills as a singer locally, but in 2004 the 17 year old would begin to see the start of a string of events, that would go on to help her shape the rest of her life as a singer on the national level. The first of all these events came in the form of an audition for the show that has turned many unknowns into superstars, American Idol. Leah went to New York City to audition for season 3 of the show. After singing Whitney Houston’s “I Believe In You And Me” she got her ticket to go to Hollywood. While in Hollywood Leah reached the semi-finals, only to be eliminated after not being in the top two in her group voted to advance to the next round. However Leah’s talent did leave a lasting impression on everyone on the show. Paula Abdul was impressed with her enough to choose Leah to return to the competition during Idol’s Wildcard Week. After Paula’s wildcard selection, Leah was able to advance to the finals of the show, It was on the Idol stage where Leah got to showcase her soulful style to a worldwide audience for the very first time. She did get eliminated after that season’s soul week theme, but not before leaving her mark on American Idol history. Despite being eliminated just shy of qualifying to be able to participate in the American Idol Tour, Leah’s version of “Betcha by Golly, Wow” by The Stylistics was included on the Season 3 American Idol finalist compilation album American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics. It is on that album that Leah’s song is in the company of many other Idol stars that would go on to also become professional recording artists, including Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo, Jasmine Trias, and others.

Leah Labelle On American Idol In 2004

Leah Labelle

“Betcha By Golly Wow”

From American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics

19/RCA Records/RMG

After Leah’s elimination from Idol she returned home more determined than ever. It would not be long until she would find another audience cheering for her, only this time she would be online instead of TV. In 2008 Leah began filming home made videos of herself in front of the computer talking to, and singing to various viewers of her YouTube channel. Various videos helped grow her fan base, her covers of other musicians songs began to rack up hundreds of thousands of views from fans. One of those fans happened to be R&B singer/song writer, Keri Hilson, who saw Labelle singing a version of her hit, “Energy.” Keri then reached out to Labelle and offered her the opportunity to sing background vocals for her on tour. Leah began to look up to Keri after working closely with her, and watching the growing success of her project, In A Perfect World in 2009.

Leah Labelle

“Energy” (Keri Hilson Cover)

Keri Hilson

“Energy”

From In A Perfect World

Mosley Music Group/Zone 4/Interscope Records

In November of 2008 R&B/Hip Hop blog, rnbdirt.com quoted what Leah revealed to her YouTube audience why she has been absent for a while between videos. Leah explained about being contacted by Keri.

“She’s brought me along with her and allowed me to see into the industry a little bit deeper than I already have,” Leah said, “and just kind of grow with her as she’s growing. And it’s been more than I could ever ask for.”

Leah Labelle

“Turnin’ Me On” (Keri Hilson Cover)

Hanging out with Keri Hilson eventually lead to the opportunity for Leah to be the opening act for her Interscope label mate, Robin Thicke. Labelle joined Thicke on his tour in 2008. After working with Robin and Keri Leah was being offered even more cool opportunities She continued to post videos to YouTube, and her blog, http://labellescanvas.blogspot.com ( Blog launched in January of 2009) , but she also got the opportunity to sing and tour with other major acts like Jordin Sparks, The Jonas Brothers, and Eric Benet She even appeared along side Jordin Sparks in her 2009 music video “S.O.S. (Let The Music Play)”. It was no secret that Leah Labelle had been gaining many well known fans within the music business, and it would be those fans who would help Leah with her next step in becoming a genuine R&B star.

Jordin Sparks

“S.O.S.(Let The Music Play)”

From Battlefield

19/Jive Records/JLG

In 2004 American Idol was not the only thing significant that would impact her music career down the road, it was also in that year when she met someone who later would be a big part of launching her career today. While she was home in Seattle, she got the opportunity to meet iconic producer and performer, Pharrell Williams for the first time. She was back stage at one of the meet and greets for his band, N.E.R.D,. Leah remembers what happened very clearly during that first meeting. She greeted him by shaking his hand and saying “Hi, Your going to produce my whole album one day.” It would be years until Leah would get to speak to Pharrell again, but if we all did not know better, everyone would think that Leah would have the power to predict the future. Years later when Leah decided to start doing viral YouTube videos, a couple of those many, many fans were in fact Pharrell and So So Def Recordings founder and producer, Jermaine Dupri. Both of the record executives were quietly keeping an eye on her, and watching her growth as a performer. Finally in 2011 when Pharrell decided to launch his new multi-platform media venture, I Am Other , he wanted to reach out Leah in hopes that she would become one of the first singers to be signed to the new venture. Soon Jermaine’s So So Def was looped in to be a partner in the deal as well. Two weeks later Pharrell and Jermaine got her in front of Epic Records CEO, Antonio “LA” Reid. After simply singing to Reid in a cappella, she walked away with a distribution through Epic for the I Am Other/So So Def project.

Pharrell’s I Am OTher State Of The Union With Leah Labelle

Jermaine Dupri’s “Living The Life”

“Me And Pharrell At Work With Leah Labelle”

Through the years both Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri have done Grammy Award winning work with various R&B and Pop stars in a very remarkable way. Even though Pharrell first broke into the business producing rappers like N.O.R.E., Mystikal, and Jay-Z, Pharrell has not only worked with key singers throughout their career, but he has had a hand in helping reshape an artist’s entire image. Some of the key singers that Pharrell has had a hand in “re-creating” include the likes of Britney Spears for her worldwide smash hit “I’m A Slave 4 U”, Justin Timberlake on creating his Urban R&B style on his solo debut, Justified, and helping breathe new life in Robin Thicke’s career, by executive producing his breakthrough album, The Evolution Of Robin Thicke. Away from Timberlake and Thicke, Pharrell can also be credited for helping show another side to No Doubt’s lead singer, Gwen Stefani. After producing No Doubt’s 2002 Top 5 Pop hit, “Hella Good”, Gwen enlisted the help of The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chat Hugo) to help her with a more experimental rhythmic sound on her solo debut album, 2004’s Love Angel Music Baby. The result was Gwen’s first number one hit, the cheerleader inspired anthem, “Hollaback Girl.” That song was a record setter for having a large number of digital downloads, becoming the first single to sell more digital downloads than CDs. it was eventually certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Key Tracks Produced By Pharrell Williams

Britney Spears

“I’m A Slave 4 U”

From Britney

Jive Records

Justin Timberlake Featuring Clipse

“Like I Love You”

From Justified

Jive Records

Justin Timberlake Featuring Pharrell Williams

“Senorita”

From Justified

Jive Records

Robin Thicke Featuring Pharrell Williams

“Wanna Love U Girl”

From The Evolution Of Robin Thicke

Star Trak/Interscope Records

Gwem Stefani

“Hollaback Girl”

From Love Angel Music Baby

Interscope Records

Just as Pharrell’s resume included some major worldwide hits that he helped rebrand some superstars, Jermaine’s resume has helped brand just as many if not more R&B acts. Like Pharrell had done with Justin Timberlake upon his departure from *N Sync, Jermaine was one of the major factors that helped define the sound in Usher’s career that would make him a star. Dupri’s team was given the task of helping give Usher the natural southern contemporary R&B sound he had in the late 90s and early 2000s. This was after his 1994 debut primarily produced by Sean “Puffy” Combs and The Hitmen failed to connect with listeners. Jermaine’s creative process with Usher lead to the mult-platinum album, My Way. It became one of the highest performing R&B albums of 1997. Jermaine would continue to influence Usher’s growth as a performer afterwards. He was credited for executive producing/co-writing songs on Usher’s following two albums. Those projects would go on to launch him into Pop stardom. (2001’s 8701 and 2004’s Confessions.) At that point in his career all of Usher’s material was also executive produced by the man who would later sign Leah Labelle to Epic Records, “LA” Reid.

Key Tracks Produced By Jermaine Dupri For Usher

Usher

“You Make Me Wanna”

From My Way

LaFace/Arista Records

Usher

“My Way”

From My Way

LaFace/Arista Records

Usher

“U Got It Bad”

From 8701

Arista Records

Usher

“Burn”

From Confessions

Arista Records & LaFace Records/Zomba Label Group

Away from Usher, another singer that Jermaine works closely with that resembles Leah’s sound a bit more would be Mariah Carey. JD and Mariah have been professionally linked since their first collaboration on Mariah’s 1996 single, “Always Be My Baby” from the Diamond certified album, Daydream. Dupri and Mariah would also collaborate frequently on what was considered Mariah’s “comeback” album, The Emancipation of Mimi from 2005 (An album also co-executive produced by “LA” Reid.). Jermaine had a hand in producing that album’s first 3 singles, while helping Mariah reintroduce herself to the world, during a time of maturity and reinvention.

Pharrell Williams, Leah Labelle, Antonio "LA" Reid, Mariah Carey, And Jermaine Dupri

Key Tracks Produced By Jermaine Dupri For Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

“Always Be My Baby”

From Daydream

Columbia Records

Mariah Carey

“We Belong Together”

From The Emancipation Of Mimi

Island Records/IDJMG

Mariah Carey Featuring Fat Man Scoop And Jermaine Dupri

“It’s Like That”

From The Emancipation Of Mimi

Island Records/IDJMG

While it is easy to see that Leah Labelle is no Mariah Carey, it is also clear to see that Leah has a swagger and vocal style to be a star all her own. Her street style mixed with feminine sexuality resembles a young Mary J. Blige during her Uptown Records era for a whole new generation. Her debut single is the appropriately titled, “Sexify”, a mid-tempo captivating tune that oozes with confidence and individuality. The song was co-written by Labelle and Pharrell, with Pharrell serving as the track’s sole producer. It looks like Labelle’s dream’s are finally coming true. Pharrell is finally indeed producing nearly every track on the album. Similar to the way Williams has done with artists on his other label, Star Trak Records, Pharrell plays a role in helping brand the sound of the record, while also pushing Leah’s limits sonically. On May 1, 2012 a 5-track sampler of Leah’s debut album was released to the internet featuring the songs “So Hot”, “Make Me Get Up”, “What We Got To Lose”, “Mr. Scissors”, and the leading single, “Sexify.” The sampler’s sound is reminiscent of the more Hip Hop infused style of R&B from the late 90s and early 2000’s, and show’s Leah helping lead the way in helping re brand the sound of R&B/Soul for the new millennium. Keep checking in with us at Clizbeats.com for more information about this rising star.

Leah Labelle

“Sexify”