It takes a bold talent to step into the shoes of Nina Simone. Ledisi has already shown she's up for the challenge, taking on the legendary musician's emotionally searing and socially conscious songs on her PBS special Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone. Through the seven songs on this album, Ledisi honors Simone as a guiding force in her life during both the high and low times.
Squarely R&B albums dominated by upbeat, clean, and energetic material seemed like a forgotten art until late 2013 and early 2014 releases from the Foreign Exchange (Love in Flying Colors) and Pharrell Williams (GIRL). Ledisi continued the upswing with The Truth, her fifth Verve album. As with those preceding albums, The Truth is certainly informed by the past but sounds contemporary; even more vibrant than her own Turn Me Loose but not as rooted in early- to mid-'70s funk and soul.
Usually, writers loathe simple sayings and well-worn cliches, but when it comes to describing the evolution of Ledisi Anibade Young, “art imitating life” is only one that fits. Since childhood, the Oakland, California transplant (by way of New Orleans) has nurtured her craft, performing in city-based productions (as part of a cabaret troupe and as Dorothy in a local rendition of The Wiz), studying opera and piano at the University of California of Berkeley and enrapturing music lovers with her effervescent stage aura and gumbo-styled approach to lyrics and vocalization (some jazz phrasing here, a pinch of blues there, a dash of funk and hip-hop stirred into a steamy, urbanized concoction of soul).
Lost & Found is the third studio album by American R&B and jazz singer-songwriter Ledisi, released August 28, 2007 on Verve Records. It is her major-label debut after releasing two independent albums with her producing partner and keyboardist Sundra Manning on their label LeSun Records. In comparison to Ledisi's previous works Soulsinger (1999), an album of original R&B and neo soul-oriented songs, and Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue (2002), a set of jazz standards and originals, Lost & Found features a slicker production and calmer vocals. The album charted at number 78 on the US Billboard 200 and at number 10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.