Bilal

Description

Bilal Oliver was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. Coming from what he describes as a “regular kind of neighborhood”, Bilal was first introduced to music when he attended a small local church. The congregation, made up of mostly family members, became his foremost musical outlet. In his later years, Bilal’s father introduced him to the jazz clubs around the city. It wasn’t until Bilal attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts that he really started taking his music seriously, realizing this was the direction he wanted to go with his life. While at the school, Bilal, along with his peers, began to experiment with songwriting and became completely enamored with Jazz. “I wanted to sing Jazz, play Jazz, and write Jazz tunes.” The effect of being immersed into a creative, music infused environment caused the young Bilal to interpret his voice as an instrument especially in the songs he began to write.

After high school, Bilal was accepted to the New School for Social Research, a prestigious avant-garde university in New York. While there, he studied Jazz and continued to develop his affinity for songwriting. Bilal was able to experience the nightlife of New York City by frequenting night clubs and gaining a true knowledge of the NYC music scene. While frequenting the famed Wetlands’ Nightclub, he became acquainted with The Roots, Q Tip, Common, Erykah Badu and Mos Def. Bilal would also take part in jam sessions with his New School professors and classmates. It was during one of these sessions that Bilal met Aaron Coleman of the Spin Doctors. The two hit it off and soon private jam sessions in Coleman’s home gave birth to a demo of songs that would land Bilal a record deal with Interscope.
Bilal was moving in the direction he desired and moving fast. He left the New School, focusing on his musical career and began creating music at the famed Electric Lady Studios. At this time, Common was working on his Like Water for Chocolate album at Electric Lady. Bilal, sitting in on the recording sessions, became an integral part of the album. Later sessions with Questlove of The Roots introduced Bilal to J Dilla and sparked a fruitful working relationship between the two. Once the album was near completion, label pressures coerced Bilal into working with more commercially prominent producers like Dr. Dre and Mike City. The album, First Born Second, was released in 2001, displaying a wide range of diverse musicality.

Khela
Khela is an artist that touches the spirit of all those she comes in contact with. Being a singer and songwriter, her engaging persona and her captivating vocals readily entice through soulful renditions of masterfully tailored music.

A native of Northern California, Khela has always been a lover of music. She began moving people’s hearts while singing in the church choir throughout much of her childhood; it was this ability to capture an audience that earned her the #1 spot at the California State Fair singing competition in 2006. From that point forward, she resolved herself to the pursuit of a career in the music industry. Working as a background vocalist for various Bay Area artists/bands she was inspired and determined to be in the spotlight.

She added to her repertoire of growing achievements over the summer of 2011 the release of a soulful debut single titled “Walk With Me”, a follow up video EPK, pivotal performances at prominent venues, and sharing the marquee with artist(s) such as Lenny Williams (former lead singer of Tower of Power), Def Jam artist John West, Latoya London of American Idol and Sony Music Ent. pop group Karmin.

Khela was also named as an official nominee for a 2011 Hollywood Music in Media Award for her song “Walk With Me” as Best R&B/Soul song, and was chosen as a Top 6 semi-finalist contestant in the BMI Know Them Now Unsigned Songwriter competition in Los Angeles, CA.

Following the success of the previous year, Khela was named as a nominee for a 2012 Artists in Music Award as Best R&B/Soul artist and her song "Hold On" was nominated by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards as Best R&B/Soul song of 2012.

While collaborating w Bay Area musicians and producers Will Sap and L.Richmond as well as incorporating fresh talent Spiffy of Headphonemuzik, Khela shares what she calls her soul music on her recently released debut EP titled “Beautiful Monster.”

More Info

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http://www.thenewparish.com/

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