In 2004, Columbia/SME Records picked up Skyblaze Recordings for worldwide distribution and rereleased the album with additional tracks.
SINGER GOAPELE CLOSER MOVIE
“Closer” was also featured on the soundtrack of the 2003 movie Honey. She released her first nationally distributed album, Even Closer, featuring the single "Closer," through Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings. With the help of her family, she formed her own independent label, Skyblaze Recordings, to oversee her musical career. In 2002 she reworked Closer, adding five new songs. "Closer" peaked at #63 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. At the same time, she was building a devoted audience through her popular live performances in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2001, she self-released her debut album, Closer, which sold 5,000 copies. Goapele returned to Oakland after her time at Berklee College of Music, where she concentrated on writing and recording songs. Goapele and her husband Theo Rodrigues have a daughter together, Bahia Osun (born May 2007). She says she has been influenced by many including Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Portishead, Miriam Makeba, Prince, Sade, Caiphus Semenya, Zulu Spears, and Hugh Masekela. Today, her music often highlights the need for political and socio-economic change. She formed songwriting skills at Berkley. Upon high school graduation, she attended Boston's Berklee College of Music, where she studied music theory. In high school, she sang in the Oakland Youth Choir and became part of a music group called Vocal Motion. She attended the Berkeley Arts Magnet School, where she led a pre-teen peer-support group.She also became involved in various groups and organizations that combated racism and sexism. Goapele and her older brother DJ Namane Mohlabane were raised in a California South African exile community.īoth of her parents inspired Goapele to become very involved in community affairs at a young age. Noa attended Friends World College and was studying in Nairobi, Kenya, where she met and married Douglas. Goapele's New York-born Israeli Jewish mother Noa had been attending protests since the age of 12. Goapele's South African father Douglas Mohlabane was an exiled political activist who struggled against the Apartheid System. Her name means to move forward in Setswana, a Southern African language. While this passionate performer may not be a household name just yet, Goapele is, as her moniker suggests, undoubtedly going forward.Goapele Mohlabane ( born July 11, 1977), is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter. Later on, she does it again with Casual (also of the Hieroglyphics crew) and Zion I on "The Daze". Teamed up with hip-hopper Pep Love of California's Hieroglyphics crew, she effortlessly overrides the bass-heavy beat on "Ease Your Mind".
Goapele's singing is the strongest element of every tune, with the music there only to back her, as it should be.Ī capable artist on her own, she also shines on collaborations. What contributes even further to the impact of her writing is her phenomenal voice. With lyrics like "So I'll walk to the shore and cry my tears in the ocean/I can see that looking in my eyes ain't enough/To bring you back no more," Goapele chooses words that are definitive enough to tell her intimate stories yet sufficiently abstract so that anyone with a soul can relate. On her sophomore release, Even Closer, the dread-headed 26-year-old-whose name means "go forward" in Setswana-compiles a collection of songs so personal and honest that one almost feels intrusive listening to it. With her sultry yet powerful voice, evocative subject matter, and passionate delivery, it's surprising that Oakland singer/songwriter Goapele isn't right up there with Alicia Keys or Erykah Badu.
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