Ledisi is a Grammy-winning, powerhouse vocalist and actress, who perhaps is best known for her championing of the music of Nina Simone, but who has established herself across both the performance and music business spectrums as a multi-talented force. Born Ledisi Anabade Young in 1972 in New Orleans, she sang with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra when she was just eight years old – perhaps channeling her grandfather, the R&B star Johnny Ace (“Pledging My Love”). Her family moved to Oakland, California when Ledisi was 13, and she now bases her career out of Los Angeles, where she runs her own production company and serves as president of the Recoding Academy’s local chapter.
Of Ledisi, singer John Legend said, “In terms of her range, dexterity, clarity, and versatility, she can do anything she wants. She’s one of the great singers in the world, period.” In addition to fronting her own band, she’s performed with Kem, Vince Gill, Keb Mo, Herbie Hancock, and Gary Clark Jr., Trombone Shorty, country star Eric Church, and soul queen Irma Thomas (on the 2022 Take Me to the River project), among others. She earned raves for her 2021 Nina Simone tribute album, Ledisi Sings Nina, and the sold-out concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall that followed. She has won a shelfload of awards for both her singing and acting, and earned a 2020 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B song after over a dozen nominations. She also garnered international attention with her 2025 Super Bowl performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,”
She has also developed a solid career as an actress, including several roles in both television and film, including portraying Mahalia Jackson in two separate movies, the 2014 Selma and in the 2022 biopic Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, and Gladys Knight in the film Spinning Gold. She also wrote, produced, and starred in a 2022 Hallmark Channel film, All Saints Christmas. Ledisi is also a talented actress on the stage, appearing in shows from Broadway to Beverly Hills, including her one-woman show, The Legend of Little Girl Blue.
She advocates passionately for the arts and for equity and diversity. Her latest album, The Crown, was released in the spring of 2025.
