electronic music

India Arie learned the transforming power of music early in life, encouraged by both parents: her mother, Joyce, herself a former singer, and now India Arie’s stylist; and her father, basketball star Ralph Simpson. She had taken up a succession of musical instruments throughout her schooling in Denver, Colorado, but her discovery of the guitar at college in Savannah, Georgia, led to a personal revelation about songwriting and performing. “When I started tapping into my own sensitivity, I started to understand people better. It was a direct result of writing songs,” she said at the press release of her debut album, Acoustic Soul.

Co-founding an Atlanta-based independent music collective, her one-song turn on a locally released compilation led to a second-stage gig at the Lilith Fair, where a Universal/Motown music scout spotted her and made an introduction to Motown CEO Kedar Massenburg. Sidestepping all the devices of flavor-of-the-month record-making, Acoustic Soul acquainted listeners with a brave and eloquent new voice, drawing an uncommonly broad swath of listeners from hip-hop, neo-soul, blues, folk and classic troubadour-style singer/songwriting, all at once. The album, released in 2001, debuted at #10 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart and#3 on the R&B album chart. Within months, without the concentrated radio play that typically powers pop and rap albums, Acoustic Soul was certified double-platinum.

India Arie followed the success of her debut in 2002 with the release of Voyage to India. Debuting at #6 on the Billboard 200 and#1 on the R&B chart, the album eventually earned a Grammy for Best R&B Album. One of the singles from the record, “Little Things”, also won a Grammy the same year for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Soon after its release, Voyage to India was certified gold.

India Arie’s third studio album, “Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship” will be released June 27th [1]. The project was originally planned to be double album, with the second disk covering love and politics, but it is unknown whether that album will now get a release or not.

On the September 2005 premiere of The Tyra Banks Show, Arie performed Just 4 2day. She wrote this song especially for Tyra’s show. Arie also wrote What About The Child, a song that did not air but was made available as a $1 internet download to support child victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.[2]

India Arie may also be heard on Stevie Wonder’s album A Time To Love that came out on 18 Oct 2005. India Arie and Stevie Wonder duet on the title track A Time To Love; which is nominated in the 2006 48th Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration With Vocals.

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