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About Leesa Richards
ABOUT LEESA RICHARDS
SINGER-SONGWRITER
Leesa Richards grew up in Detroit where she experienced its music-rich culture. From this exposure, she showed an inclination towards the arts at a very early age. “My parents listened to a lot of jazz and I would record myself over and over singing along to Nancy Wilson records,” she says. However, when she saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, this sparked her interest and she knew she wanted to be a professional dancer. She attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and obtained a degree in dance.
Leesa performing arts career started with a variety of dance companies. She was selected to perform the role of Mary Magdalene in the national tour of the Broadway musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. She earned critical acclaim and led to featured performances in several musical productions throughout the U.S. and Europe. Most significantly, her accomplishments afforded her the opportunity to be on a world tour as a dancer with singer, Whitney Houston.
With her Detroit roots steeped in music, Leesa knew the next phase of her career was to pursue professional singing and songwriting.
She has performed with a slate of powerhouse artists including Oleta Adams, Faith Hill, Barry Gibb, Kelly Clarkson, Gloria Estefan and Julio Iglesias; and recorded with Barbra Streisand and Lenny Kravitz, among other artists.
As a singer and songwriter, her debut solo album, “Mother’s Child”, is a rich blend of soulful ballads, rock and R&B, a musical journey imbued by personal experiences and the universal stories of love and loss.
Leesa’s life-long love for jazz transformed into a nationally renowned career as a singer and songwriter with performances as The Leesa Richards Quartet. The production is a deep and jazzy musical, journey from past to present. “The live performance was a melodic journey through Jazz standards and romantic feel goods”, said a Fan.
She has developed an extensive music repertoire that includes jazz classics as well as her original compositions and unique jazz interpretation of contemporary hits by artists such as Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell. In addition to her soul-stirring vocals, the quartet includes nationally known musicians on keyboard, drums, and bass.
The production is classic, nostalgic, and modern. Leesa Richards alludes to sweet vibes and leaves her audience with a joyful feeling of jazz.
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