Originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, Ledisi and her family moved to Oakland when Ledisi was 10 years old. Being conceived and raised by an R&B Singer and a guitar player and her step-dad being a drummer, there was no doubt that Ledisi, having been raised around all this music, would turn out to be a singer. She smothered herself in anything that had to do with music and/or singing.
She studied Opera and piano at U.C Berkeley's Young Musicians Program leaving her classical trainer and crafting her skills in Gospel while attending high school. Jazz coarsed through her veins while attending college. Having all that definitely paved the way for this now liberated, highly charged singer. Ledisi is currently appearing in San Francisco's Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon and has been performing there for eleven years. Working hard at Beach Blanket using her theatrical experience has encouraged her to use some of her other talents such as song writing, producing and teaching. She made her debut in television by landing a nationwide commercial for Sprint's Time is On My Side campaign. Ledisi has worked on numerous recording projects and has recently completed two CD's; Soulsinger and Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue. Currently, Ledisi manages a production company with Sundra Manning under the name, LeSun Music. Sundra co-wrote wrote and co-produced both albums with Ledisi.
The duo has written for many artists such as: The Braxton Brothers (Peak Records), Pinay Divas (Classified/Tommy Boy Records)and The Braids (Atlantic Records). Ledisi has performed with Isaac Hayes, Jai Utal, Alphabet Soup, Marcus Shelby Trio and Slide 5. You can also hear her on the Cafe Du Nord CD singing a emotional rendition of Stormy Weather with her jazz trio. She is also a featured vocalist on Naked Music's (Virgin Records) Petal Pusher Compilation with DJ Miquel Migs.
Ledisi rejuvenated the San Francisco club scene with a band called Slide 5 in the acidjazz scene in San Francisco. After 2 years she left the group with a hunger to write songs that matched the energy she gave on stage. After finally freeing herself from old bonds she decided to form her own band and call it Anibade (pronounced a-nee-bah-day). Quickly the band became popular for its soulful energy and seductive mixture of R&B, Jazz and Funk. The band has opened for D'angelo, The Roots, Rachelle Ferell, Eric Benet, Incognito, Dionne Ferris, Groove Collective, Omar, Morris Day and the Time, and shared the stage with Angie Stone, Norman Brown, The Average White Band, Tony Toni Tone, Carl Thomas and Joe. Ledisi has appeared at Paramount Theater with the Oakland Interfaith Choir and appeared as a special guest at the Prescreening for HBO's movie Disappearing Acts written by Terry McMillan, performing Count On Me. Ledisi was a surprise tribute to the renowned author.
Ledisi with her band Anibade has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival, Juneteenth Festival in San Francisco as well as the North Beach Jazz Festival.
Ledisi won a Goldie Award for Best of the Bay by San Francisco's Bay Guardian. She also won an Award for Best local artist by citysearch.com. She has been nominated for a Bammie for Best Female Jazz Vocalist by the Bay Area Music Awards(Bam Magazine).#2 out of the 10 most influential African American People by Oakland based magazine City flight News Magazine. Herself and the band has also been nominated three times for Best Acid Jazz and R&B Band by the San Francisco Weekly. Ledisi is now recording a live album and planning to release a new R&B album by the Spring of 2002.
Ledisi teaches voice lessons privately and also at The Jazz School in Berkeley. She has worked with The Stanford Jazz Workshop,Young Musician Program at U.C. Berkeley, and the Oakland Youth Chorus. She taught at various Oakland public schools, Oaktown Jazz Workshop, Jazz in the Schools and at Jazz Camp West sponsored by Rhythmic Concepts.
Ledisi also created her own style of teaching and has called it, Sing Soul Mind Emotion. She will be giving a vocal seminar for this technique in February 2002.
With numerous awards under her belt and rave reviews from fans and critics, and inviting fun ways to teach voice lessons, Ledisi, along with her band Anibade, continues to move forward and give one of the most energetic shows audiences have seen in a long time. She rocks the stage as if the world is ending and she's taking us all out with a bang.