Hip Hop On Deck Exclusive Interview With Lele Rose
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Lele Rose's Bio:
Meet international pop soul artist – Lele Rose. The Washington DC born singer, songwriter and pianist is best known for her deep smoky vocals and her superior classical piano chops. With a powerful bluesy voice, Lele has been compared to the gusty sound of Fiona Apple, the braveness and grunge of Adele, the clear pure confidence of Lana del Rey, and the ridiculously beautiful tone of Stevie Nicks. Her passion for music has led her to perform abroad and landed her a couple of nationwide residencies where she can most often be seen singing throughout the Northeast region and Southern California.
In addition to performing as a solo piano artist, Lele has performed and collaborated with musicians across the nation including the world famed Troubadour, the House of Blues, and the Whisky a Go-Go in West Hollywood, CA. She also grew up as a dancer, studied jazz, tap, and a hip hop intensive at the Broadway Dance Center in NYC, was the captain and choreographer of her high school dance team, and has performed with various small dance crews.
After graduating from Virginia Tech in 2010 with a B.S. in Business Marketing Management & a B.A. in Spanish, Lele Rose decided to move full force with a career in the music & entertainment industry. She returned home to Washington DC where she independently composed, recorded, and produced her first full-length studio album with Tynz Hampton, CEO at District Entertainment. She worked as a marketing promotional model by night for companies such as MillerCoors & Captain Morgan to pay for her studio time. The album titled Bliss Kingdom features jazzy piano riffs, upbeat dance tracks, soulful melodies, hip-hop beats, and Latin & Caribbean highlights. City Dreams and Let Go are featured tracks with music videos on YouTube.
While in DC, Lele began creating her online presence & EPK and landed a gig through Sonic Bids at the Whisky a Go-Go where she performed her album-release party in West Hollywood. She got a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and with the support of her family she was able to stay & pursue the beginning of her career as an artist. Just a few weeks later,Lele received a phone call from an agency to audition in Orange County for a performance opportunity at Seasons 52, a casually sophisticated piano lounge restaurant.
The agency offered Lele a featured resident entertainer spot at the Seasons 52 location in King of Prussia, PA with prospects to return to Southern California in the future. Leleaccepted the contract and began working full-time as a musician singing & playing piano acoustically, performing pop songs & jazz standards.
In 2013, Lele released an empowering love song Honey, I Love You that pulls you in to listen over and over again. Produced by Rivers Mathew Welch from the new popular Philadelphia rock punk band Rivers Monroe, the ballad starts off building slowly and escalates into a potent driven beat.
After almost two years in Philadelphia, performing pop radio hits 5 nights a week 4-5 hours sets at her Seasons 52 residency, Lele relocated to Los Angeles to perform for the grand opening of two brand new Seasons 52 locations in Santa Monica & Century City. While in Los Angeles, Lele met Billy Castle who became her drummer & co-producer for West Hollywood performances and produced a 3-track demo taking her writing skills & sound to the next level. Lele released the first single from the project Vivacious; a hot, sexy and energetic rock inspired pop song with powerful guitar riffs performed by Mike Krusleski "Joe Kruz". Working with many musicians and having a band to back her up inspired a new name; Lele Rose & The Thorns was born.
After a year in Los Angeles, working with the band and continuing to perform live at Seasons 52, Lele expanded her Southern California performances into the San Diego scene and began performing regularly in Seaport downtown San Diego & the UTC, La Jolla area. She also was a featured performer in Amsterdam for two weeks at Piano Bar Maxim.
Being in California and after a couple trips to Costa Rica & Hawaii, Lele became inspired to begin surfing. While surfing at Windansea Beach July 2014, Lele lost control of the board and crashed into an enormous rock. Fortunately, the lifeguard saw her immediately and was able to save her where she was rushed to Scripps Memorial Hospital. The accident was major, and the impact had caused internal bleeding, and lacerated her kidney and more seriously, her liver. After two nights in intensive care and a week in the hospital, Lele was released but would be unable to drive or work during her two month recovery period. The surf accident was detrimental but sparked creativity and a new song, Believe – composed for the Holiday Magic CD, a gift for Children’s Hospitals.
Many new songs & collaborations have been written & recorded since the accident. Lele's second work, The Demo Collection is now available for preview on SoundCloud and features her work done with her Philadelphia producer, Los Angeles producer, and an electronic pop song inspired by Odesza titled Lucid produced with Radd Pulse in San Diego. She was also featured on Fontaine Ivory's house track, Painless, available for download.
She is getting ready to release two lyric videos for "Honey I Love You" & "What I Want" (co-produced by Mat Rivers - Philadelphia) and an official music video for "What I Want".
he Lele continues to create new songs while mastering her craft. She also is performing at a brand new spot in Newport Beach, Red O and performs frequently at the Horton Grand Hotel in San Diego. She was recently featured as a musical guest on The Tonight Show in San Diego live with the Thorns. This September she will be performing on the East Coast in NY & DC at Mastro's. She recently got back in the water and on a surfboard for the first time. Be sure to stay on the lookout for the budding American artist and entertainer as she forms her unique sound, while staying true to her passion of performing, healing, and inspiring at a city near you.