LaBelle attended Garfield High School, where she performed in a jazz band led by Clarence Acox Jr. In 2000, she joined the children's show Caught in the Middle and remained part of the program for two years. During this time, the Total Experience Gospel Choir's founder, Pat Wright, mentored LaBelle. A year later, she performed in the musical Black Nativity and remained with the production for five years. LaBelle also participated in beauty pageants, and in 1997, she won the Washington State Pre-teen Miss America Pageant and was the first runner-up in the National Pageant. While performing in the choir, she became interested in gospel and soul music. LaBelle cited Hill as her primary musical influence. From age 11, she joined the Total Experience Gospel Choir after being inspired by Lauryn Hill's performance in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. LaBelle began performing publicly in 1990, including singing on stage during her parents' tours. Īs a teenager, LaBelle performed in the Total Experience Gospel Choir and was mentored by Pat Wright ( pictured in 2016). LaBelle grew up listening to music, including jazz and the Beatles, but felt the most connected to R&B. After defecting from Bulgaria during a 1979 tour, LaBelle's parents emigrated to Canada and later the United States, becoming naturalized citizens in both countries. Anastasia recorded pop music and was in a group with Troshan, who was a founding member of Bulgaria's first rock band, the Silver Bracelets. Her parents, Anastasia and Troshan Vladowski, are Bulgarian singers, and her uncle made rock music in Bulgaria. Leah LaBelle Vladowski was born on September 8, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Seattle, Washington. Life and career 1986–2004: Early life and American Idol
1.1 1986–2004: Early life and American Idol.A posthumous EP, Love to the Moon, was released on September 7, 2018. On January 31, 2018, LaBelle and her boyfriend Rasual Butler died in a car crash in Los Angeles. She released the non-album single " Lolita" the following year. LaBelle received the Soul Train Centric Award at the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards. It was supported by two singles, " Sexify" and "What Do We Got To Lose?".
Her sampler Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri Present Leah LaBelle (2012) was distributed only to record companies. LaBelle signed a record deal after Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri contacted her. Keri Hilson hired LaBelle as a backing vocalist after hearing her rendition of " Energy", which led to her working for other artists on their tours. Following the advice of an industry contact, LaBelle released her music through her YouTube channel. While in college, she collaborated with Andreao Heard on a demo. In 2005, LaBelle attended the Berklee College of Music for a year before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles. As a child, she performed in the Total Experience Gospel Choir and the musical Black Nativity. LaBelle released a sampler, three singles and a posthumous extended play (EP).īorn in Toronto, Ontario, and raised in Seattle, Washington, LaBelle began pursuing music as a career in her teens. These videos led to work as a backing vocalist starting in 2008 and a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings. In 2007, LaBelle began recording covers of R&B and soul music for her YouTube channel.
She rose to prominence in 2004 as a contestant on the third season of American Idol, placing twelfth in the season finals. Leah LaBelle Vladowski (September 8, 1986 – January 31, 2018) was an American singer.