Goapele

Fun Facts: After graduating high school, Goapele attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied music theory.

Claim to Fame: In 2001, after self-releasing her debut album, “Closer,” her family founded Skyblaze Recordings to oversee her musical career. The album’s single “Closer” was featured on the soundtrack to “Honey”(2003).

Goapele is an African-American soul and R&B singer-songwriter. Her name means to go forward in Tswana, the language of her paternal grandmother.


Goapele's South African father was an exiled political activist who struggled against the Apartheid System. He met her New York-born Israeli Jewish mother who had been attending protests since the age of 12 and the couple married while in Nairobi, Kenya. Both her parents inspired Goapele to become very involved in community affairs at a young age. She attended the Berkeley Arts Magnet School, where she led a pre-teen peer support group. She also became involved in various groups and organizations that combated racism and sexism. Today, her music often highlights the need for political and socio-economic change. She says she has been influenced by many including Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Portishead, Miriam Makeba, Prince, Caiphus Semenya, Zulu Spears, and Hugh Masekela.



Goapele returned to Oakland after her stint at Berklee College of Music, where she concentrated on writing and recording songs. In 2001 she self-released her debut album, Closer, which sold 5,000 copies. At the same time, she was building a devoted audience through her popular live performances in the Bay Area. "Closer" peaked at #63 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart

In 2002 she reworked Closer, adding five new songs. With the help of her family formed their own independent label, Skyblaze Recordings, to oversee her musical career. She released her first nationally distributed album, Even Closer, featuring the single "Closer," through Hieroglyphics Imperium Recordings. ?Closer? was also featured on the soundtrack of the 2003 movie Honey. In 2004, Columbia/SME Records picked up Skyblaze Recordings for worldwide distribution and rereleased the album with additional tracks. She co-wrote and co-produced the entire album, which is a mixture of neo-soul, trip-hop, lieder, and jazz. She also toured North America with the band Spearhead. In 2004 Even Closer peaked at #24 on the Billboard Charts for Top Independent Albums.

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