Goapele

Recording her first tracks at the turn of the millennium, American neo-soulstress Goapele (born July 11th, 1977 in Oakland, California) had first cut her teeth as a member of the local group Vocal Motion, later enrolling in the Berklee School of Music and temporarily relocating to Boston to formalise her musical credentials. 2001 saw the singer-songwriter return to her hometown to release her debut album, Closer, via a limited run of hard copies. The self-released project spanned a variety of genres including R&B and trip-hop, and housed early productions from Jeff Bhasker – later of Kanye West fame – and AmpLive among others. It shifted 5,000 units and entered the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart at number 63. Goapele was soon picked up by Del the Funky Homosapien’s local label Hieroglyphics Imperium, with whom she released a repackaged deluxe edition of Closer entitled Even Closer in 2002. This caught the attention of Columbia Records, who reissued the project in 2004, leading it to enter multiple specialist Billboard charts. In 2005, Goapele returned with her second album, Change It All, which featured collaborations with fellow Oakland artist Clyde Carson and Detroit singer Dwele. The album led to stronger chart performances as well as appearances on high-profile shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Following a lengthy wait, Goapele returned with Break of Dawn in 2011, which spawned multiple singles including “Undertow”. Continuing to release at regular intervals, she followed this up with 2014’s Strong as Glass – which included the Snoop Dogg collaboration “Hey, Boy” – and 2017’s Dreamseeker.