Rashondra Angelle :: An Angelle of Music

By Brian J. Murphy

Most artists are extremely passionate about their music. For many, music is not only what they do, but who they are. It is common for many singers to feel like life is music and music is life. For the few that are fortunate enough make a living entertaining others, the blessing of performing breathes life into their souls.

For Rashondra Angelle, this is exactly the case and then some. Singing since the age of nine, Angelle instantly took to being a performer. "I just started singing one day and it sounded good to me, I actually thought everyone could sing at that age," says Angelle. Like many young African-American ladies, with a gift of song, Angelle got her start in the church. Fine tuning her skills in a house of worship was the perfect launching pad to a life of performing in front of others.

Angelle, like most performers, had a wide variety of influences growing up. The songstress grew up listening to Janet Jackson, Sade and Nirvana and she cites Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu as current favorites. Angelle was born and raised in Long Beach and attended San Diego State University where she received her B.A. degree in English. Also, she teaches 10th grade English, "I always wanted to teach and sing, those are the only two things that I wanted to do," states Angelle.

During her last year of college, Angelle increased her performances and became more comfortable on stage. "In my last year of school, I became a lot more confident, recorded a couple of songs and really felt like there was something to what I had," says Angelle. Angelle’s music can be best described as a combination of R&B, Neo-Soul, spoken word and hip-hop. "At my essence, my music is straight soul," states Angelle.

The soulful singer is also quite opinionated on today’s state of music. In her words, "it needs to be saved." This is an articulate way of saying that music is not in a good place. "It is just being used as a means to obtain wealth, artists need to think and focus on how their music will impact future generations. Artists before were more positive, expressed themselves and gave more thought about generations to come, we really need a savior," Angelle enthusiastically states.

The Savior may just come in form of Rashondra Angelle. Her energy and upbeat positive sound is a much needed style in today’s music landscape. In the next five years, Angelle has plans to continue making beautiful soul music all around the world, in addition to working with youth. As Angelle’s passion continues to fuel her creativity and love for music, we can expect great things to come. The world of music should get ready to stand and take notice, for there is a new kid on the block.

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