Some have one life; others two or even three. During her singing career, Robin McKelle has been through more than one renaissance. She came to the public eye with a first album called Introducing Robin McKelle (2006), followed by Modern Antique (2008) ‐ two big‐band swing sessions. “I’d recorded a demo, tapes to get dates. They ended up on a record‐company desk and the first album was released with all the positive spin that followed. I can’t say I have any regrets: I started touring all over th...
Some have one life; others two or even three. During her singing career, Robin McKelle has been through more than one renaissance. She came to the public eye with a first album called Introducing Robin McKelle (2006), followed by Modern Antique (2008) ‐ two big‐band swing sessions. “I’d recorded a demo, tapes to get dates. They ended up on a record‐company desk and the first album was released with all the positive spin that followed. I can’t say I have any regrets: I started touring all over the world, playing bigger and bigger venues thanks to that first album and then the second.”
Another turning point came at the start of 2010, with Mess Around, breaking with a certain classicism and exploring themes borrowed from different songwriters ‐ Leonard Cohen, Doc Pomus, Willie Dixon and The Beatles ‐ but especially marking a new aesthetic approach in the form of a return to roots for the native of New York State. “People accepted the transition, because they felt it was natural. I could express my personality better in that soul‐jazz range. It was a sort of liberation. Today, I feel totally at ease with myself. It was a risk, but I don’t like being tied to the status quo.”
Robin McKelle had already sung soul in her first life. Influenced by her mother, a member of the church choir, the young Robin McKelle began to show her talent in R&B groups from the age of fifteen. After taking up the piano and French horn, she studied jazz at the University of Miami (1994‐1996) before attending and graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston (1999). Moving to the West Coast, she regularly performed as a backing singer. “I learned my trade.” She subsequently went back to the Berklee College Of Music as a teacher and entered the Thelonious Monk competition in Washington, winning a prize in 2004. “Then came an uncertain time. I sang with groups, we covered hits and I performed at weddings while I waited for my moment to come.”
Now she is entering a new chapter in her eventful history without looking back. “From time to time, I think about it, but it’s all a long way off now. I feel as if I’m beginning something new with Soul Flower and I’m looking forward to winning the public over on stage.” Indeed, when she performs live, Robin McKelle’s singing talent takes on a whole new dimension. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
