Like almost all other musicians hit with the neo-soul tag, the primary inspirations of Leela James -- a gritty-voiced singer and songwriter born in Los Angeles, CA -- dated no later than the late '70s; Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Tina Turner were regularly cited. Her debut album, very much a throwback affair, involved assistance from a range of noted studio rats from the fields of rap and R&B, including Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, James Poyser, Chucky Thompson, and Wyclef Jean. The album, titled A Change Is Gonna Come (a definite reference to Sam Cooke), was released in late June 2005 and peaked just outside the Top 40 of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart. Despite poor sales, the album fared well enough to earn James nominations for the 2006 #Soul Train Music Awards and the same year's NAACP Image Awards. After splitting from Warner Bros., the singer landed on the roster of a new label, Shanachie, and recorded one of the label's more inspired all-cover sets, Let's Do It Again. The album was released in March 2009, with the full-length My Soul following a year later on Stax.

~ Andy Kellman, Rovi