Once upon a song...

From the moment she became a buzzed-about up-and-comer crooning her heart- tugging, self-penned “Love Fell On Me” (the end credits theme to the romantic comedy, “Jumping the Broom”), singer/songwriter/keyboardist Sheléa snapped up the attention and support of music’s most powerful icons, including Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, David Foster, Narada Michael Walden, Ricky Minor and Dave Koz. The depth of emotion she plumbs via her vocal interpretations, her composing and her piano playing has been steadily making her an artist to be reckoned with across the top shelf of the ‘beyond category’ international pop music spectrum. This led to her debut album, Love Fell On Me (Breath of Life Records – 2013).

Sheléa (pronounced shuh-lay-yuh) possesses a resume and list of performance credits that is as staggering as it is multi-faceted. She performed at the White House before President Barack & First Lady Michele Obama (both led the room in a standing ovation) for “Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles,” singing “Night Time is the Right Time” with soul man Anthony Hamilton. Sheléa was handpicked to be the very first artist to perform at Quincy Jones jazz club, Q’s Bar and Lounge, located in Palazzo Versace, Dubai. Sheléa traveled internationally as a featured vocalist in “An Intimate Evening with David Foster” singing selections made famous by Natalie Cole (“Unforgettable”), Chaka Khan (“Through the Fire”), Whitney Houston (songs from “The Bodyguard” motion picture soundtrack) and Toni Braxton (“Unbreak My Heart”), as well as the power duet “Tell Him” on which she sang Barbra Streisand’s lines (her new nickname: “The Black Barbra”) with Pia Toscano singing Celine Dion’s part. Sheléa also sang on the PBS-TV special “Zoltan Maga: Live from Budapest with David Foster” as a special guest of the Hungarian violinist.

In the fall of 2016, Sheléa appeared in HBO’s multi-Emmy-nominated film “All the Way” singing and acting as a funeral choir soloist loosely based on the great Mahalia Jackson. For five consecutive years, she has toured with saxophonist Kirk Whalum on his “The Gospel According to Jazz Christmas” shows, and is immortalized on his Grammy/NAACP Image Award-nominated live double-CD The Gospel According to Jazz: Chapter IV (a concert also available on DVD). Sheléa sang the spiritual “Wade in the Water” at the Kennedy Center Honors accompanying the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in tribute to choreographer Carmen de Lavallade. At the Governor’s Ball (an event that leads up to the Grammy Awards), Sheléa sang the Diane Warren-penned World Humanitarian Day anthem “I Was Here” (originally recorded by Beyonce’). Meanwhile, Sheléa’s own composition/recording “Can’t Play it Cool With You” (a jazzy ballad featuring trumpeter Chuck Findley) was tapped for an episode of the CW-TV superhero show “Black Lightning.”

As a member of NARAS (The Recording Academy), Sheléa was a guest speaker at the 2018 “Grammy Museum Summer Sessions,” prepping high school students on music’s value, songwriting craft, vocal technique, and all-around professionalism. Sheléa is also a staunch proponent for female empowerment. She teamed up with Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Tena Clark to sing the anthem “Break the Chain” for the global launch of “One Billion Rising” headed Eve Ensler, closed the 2016 TEDWomen conference in San Francisco singing “I Believe” (also penned by Clark), and performed for the National Women’s History Museum honoring Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Dolores Huerta.

Sheléa has cemented her reputation as a go-to for concert tributes. She made her Carnegie Hall debut performing a tribute to songwriting great Jimmy Webb belting out his song, “Shattered.” Sheléa was invited to perform at the White House at the suggestion of Stevie Wonder to honor master songwriting team Burt Bacharach & Hal David with the Gershwin Prize singing the Dionne Warwick classic “Anyone Who Had a Heart” (a showstopper she reprised at the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Awards and at David’s memorial service). For the PBS special “A Grammy Salute to Music Legends” airing October 5, 2018, Sheléa honors Tina Turner with the medley “What’s Love Got to Do With It” / “Proud Mary” / “Simply The Best.”

However, her most coveted tribute is the one that has become the thrust of her long- awaited third album: Pretty World: A Tribute to Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Sheléa shares, “At the invitation of producer/songwriter Narada Michael Walden, I was singing at ASCAP’s 2014 event ‘We Write the Songs’ at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Alan Bergman sang their first Oscar-winner ‘The Windmills of Your Mind.’ That night over dinner, Narada told them I wanted to sing for them. There was a piano around the corner so I played them ‘Will Someone Ever Look at Me That Way,’ a song they composed for the Barbra Streisand film ‘Yentl.’ When I opened my eyes at the end of the song, they both had tears in their eyes… which made me cry. Narada suggested me doing an album of their songs. When I got home, Alan & Marilyn had picked out twelve songs for me…some never released.”

That album is Sheléa’s star-studded Pretty World featuring Stevie Wonder turning the title track into a duet, Kirk Whalum playing soprano sax on “Moonlight’ (the first single), Mervyn Warren contributing a big band arrangement of ‘Make Me Rainbows” (first sung by First Lady of Song, Ms. Ella Fitzgerald), Take 6 joining her on ‘You Are Not Alone’ (a new song), and keyboard giant Greg Phillinganes playing on ‘The Easy Way’ (also previously unreleased). Sheléa debuted “Make Me Rainbows” honoring Marilyn Bergman at the ASCAP Jazz Awards (held in Herb Alpert’s Hollywood Hills jazz club, Vibrato Jazz Grille) in recognition of her 15 years as president of the organization. A PBS-TV special is now in development to promote Pretty World next year (2019) before Sheléa embarks upon her first tour of coveted performing arts centers across America via Opus 3 booking agency.

The world is surely Sheléa’s oyster but not only that: cosmically pre-destined. Sheléa Melody Frazier and her three sisters (she’s in the middle) grew up in Bakersfield, California. Her first name is a variation on her mother’s name, Sheila. Her father, Roger, told her that before she was even born he knew she would be a singer. “Music is all I’ve ever known,” Sheléa says. “I come from a musical family: Dad is a songwriter, and Mom sings and plays piano, though neither pursued music professionally. In my baby book, Mom said I was harmonizing at 2. By 4 I was given my first wooden piano which I’d write songs on for my sisters. I started piano lessons at 7, and was singing and playing at Bakersfield Southside Church at 12. It was a small church and I was the only musician, playing out of necessity. I thought that would be the extent of music in my life.”

It wasn’t until Sheléa arrived at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama when she thought about making music for a living after gaining her first recording studio experience singing with a short-lived girl group. Though her major constantly changed, classical music steadfastly remained her minor. Sheléa ultimately graduated with a B.A. in music with piano as her emphasis.

Sheléa’s first big break came via a connection with vocal sextet Take 6, members of the tightknit 7th Day Adventist church community. In 2008 she was featured on the group’s Grammy-nominated album The Standard singing the classic “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Stevie Wonder heard the recording and invited her to visit him at his Wonderlove Studio. This led to her singing at his annual Christmas concert, “A House Full of Toys,” then joining him on his “Songs In the Key of Life Revisited Tour.” Sheléa also worked as a songwriter/vocalist with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis followed by her writing and producing three songs for Chanté Moore’s CD Love the Woman, including the single “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way.” She also co-wrote “I Fell In” (with Phil Galdston – composer of “Save the Best for Last”) for Vanessa Williams’ album The Real Thing.

In 2013, Sheléa released her debut CD, Love Fell On Me, the single “I’ll Never Let You Go” peaking at #22 on the Billboard R&B chart. Yet it was a video tribute to Whitney Houston following the pop star’s tragic passing – singing a self-arranged 10-song medley of her hits at the keyboard in a recording studio – that became a viral YouTube sensation receiving over a million views to date. Sheléa just created a similar grand memorial tribute video at Capitol Studios in Hollywood for dearly departed “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin to whom she feels even more kindred.

“Our backgrounds are so similar,” Sheléa surmises. “Our fathers are both pastors, and we both started out singing and playing in church. I’d love to make an album in 2019 that would be my interpretation of the kind of record Ms. Franklin would do – songs along the lines of ‘Drown in My Own Tears,’ ‘Do Right Woman – Do Right Man’ and ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’…only with my original material – a soulful woman’s album telling a very soulful story.”

Sheléa primarily writes songs from her life experiences but recently found herself composing lullabies for her sister’s kids, family members and movie mogul Tyler Perry’s son. Performance-wise, she is doing a month with “A Dave Koz & Friends Christmas” and looks forward to headlining a Symphonic Pops tour – much like the beloved Summer of 2015 “A Night at the Movies” show she sang under the stars with Michael Feinstein at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. 2019 that would be my interpretation of the kind of record Ms. Franklin would do – songs along the lines of ‘Drown in My Own Tears,’ ‘Do Right Woman – Do Right Man’ and ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’…only with my original material – a soulful woman’s album telling a very soulful story.”