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When Laura Izibor flew into town for a private dinner performance, she giddily shared that she’d just opened a show for one of her biggest idols, Aretha Franklin. “She is the queen; that was crazy,” shares the latest soul sensation hailing from Dublin, Ireland about performing in New York for the troops.
A U.S. resident since her late teens, Izibor has been performing onstage since age 13. The neo-soul-influenced vocalist and pianist learned she had a gift when she sang a song in drama class.
“My teacher encouraged me. I took voice and piano lessons and started writing. I signed up for song competitions, eventually got a manager and a demo together and sent it over here [to the U.S.].” The 21-year-old continues, “I started showcasing and was on the grind.”
Her tenacity led her to Grammy Award-winning music producers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, the multitalented producer who produced Beyoncé’s hit, “Single Ladies,” and Scott Jacoby, as well as Gang Starr’s DJ Premier, who did the thumping remix for her debut single, “From My Heart to Yours.”
“I didn’t work with many huge producers, Tricky was the exception. He had a big repertoire going on … I just wanted to work with [producers] that understood the songs and wanted to let them breathe, make them better,” Izibor says.
Izibor’s singles have landed on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Hills,” The Nanny Diaries, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? and Will Smith’s Seven Pounds.
“Soul music is huge in the U.K. and it’s really still alive,” says Izibor, who credits Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway and Jill Scott as her influencers and heroes. “There are radio stations over there that will really only play old-school music like Marvin Gaye. I opened for Al Green and James Brown in Ireland and they would sell out in a heartbeat. Like Big Bang music, everyone would know every single word; even I was shocked when the crowd would answer ‘Yeah’ to James Brown.”
The fruit of Izibor’s labor, her debut album, “Let the Truth Be Told,” will be released this month.
