N'dambi
| N'Dambi | |
|---|---|
N'Dambi at the Vienna Jazz Festival 2010
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Chonita N. Gillespie [Gilbert] |
| Born | 1970 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, Piano |
| Labels |
Concord Music Group2006–present, Cheeky-I (independent)1995–2002 |
| Associated acts | Erykah Badu, Snarky Puppy, Lecrae, Keite Young |
| Website | NDambiOnline.com |
N'Dambi is an American soul/jazz singer from Dallas, TX.
N'Dambi is the ninth of eleven children born to a Baptist minister and missionary. Her father was a minister and singer in a quartet group. She got her professional start singing with Gaye Arbuckle, a local gospel singer, touring with Arbuckle for two years (from the ages of 18 to 20). Shortly thereafter she sang as background singer and collaborator with Erykah Badu.
She released three independent albums: Little Lost Girls Blues, Tunin' Up & Cosignin' and A Weird Kind of Wonderful. As a result of her success as an independent artist, she was signed to the re-activated Stax Records (Concord Music Group) in 2006 and released her 2011 Grammy-nominated album, Pink Elephant in 2009. N'Dambi has also recorded or been featuring on songs with Erykah Badu, Keite Young, Down To The Bone (band), Lecrae, The D.O.C., Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicholas Payton, DJ Kemit and Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner vol. 1 which earned her a SESAC Award for Best Jazz Performance.
Her name, "N'Dambi" was taken from a Central African language. It means "Most beautiful", N'Dambi told RNation.com. "NDambi" is not uncommon as a name in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. As a model, N'Dambi has posed for fashion photographer Marc Baptiste.
N'Dambi delivered her debut solo CD Little Lost Girl Blues in 1999. Since then she has released the two-disc set Tunin' Up & Cosignin, which focused more on a live and jazzy sound and contains new versions of several songs from her debut. After this, in 2005, she released A Weird Kind of Wonderful, which contained funkier and more rock-influenced tracks. It was released in Japan only, which made it a very sought-after collector's item on eBay. These projects were released independently by N'Dambi. Her debut album for the Stax Records is called Pink Elephant and was released in 2009.
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