Kelela Biography

Kelela Mizanekristos is an American singer and songwriter. She made her debut in the music industry with the release of her 2013 mixtape Cut 4 Me.

In 2015, she released Hallucinogen, an EP which deals with the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship in reverse chronological order. Her debut studio album, Take Me Apart, was released in 2017.

Kelela Age| Birthday

Kelela was born on June 4, 1983, in Washington, D.C. The singer is of a second-generation Ethiopian American descent.

Kelela Take Me Apart

Kelela Young| Early Career

The songstress grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and was the only child in her family. While in fourth grade, she learned to play the violin and participated in her school’s choir. Kelela graduated from Magruder High School in 2001. Kelela began her musical career by singing jazz standards at cafésand went ahead to join Dizzy Spells; an indie band.

Kelela Cut 4 Me | Saint Heron by Solange

Kelela quit her telemarketing job to fully pursue her career as a musician in 2012, relocating to Los Angeles. She met up with electronic music duo Teengirl Fantasy and contributed to the duo’s 2013 album Tracer on the hit song “EFX”. Following the success of the song, she met Prince William from Fade to Mind label who introduced her to the sound of the record label and its sister imprint from London, Night Slugs. Her career was slowly rising and in May 2013, she appeared on Kingdom’s “Bank Head”, and five months later, she put out her mixtape titled Cut 4 Me for free on the public domain. Harriet Gisbone , a correspondent of The Guardian described the noveau mixtape as “an experiment for the production team, the first time the production crew had used vocals on their club tracks.” Her track “Go All Night” was included on the multi-artist compilation album released by Solange Knowles titled Saint Heron.

Kelela The High |Hallucinogen EP

On December 11, 2013,  Love the Free mixtape was released by DJ Kitty Cash. The mixtape featured Kelela’s song “The High”. On February 4, 2014, Kelela  took to her socials to release the track by herself, particularly on her SoundCloud account where she had started getting some traction. She was already getting features by this time and Bok Bok also featured her on the song “Melba’s Call”, which was released on March 5. Kelela announced the release of her first EP, Hallucinogen on March 3, 2015 alongside the release of the lead single “A Message” and its accompanying music video. The second single, “Rewind”, was released in September 2. The EP covers the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship in reverse chronological order. It includes the song “The High” which was previously shared by DJ Cash.

Kelela Take Me A_part Remix Album

Kelela announced a remix album titled Take Me a_Part on September 12, 2018. The remix album consisted of remixes from her debut album, and shared a remix for “LMK” featuring artists Princess Nokia, Junglepussy, Cupcakke and Ms. Boogie.

The remix album also featured  Kaytranada, Rare Essence, Serpentwithfeet among other artists. On September 26, Kelela shared Kaytranada’s “Waitin” remix as the second single from the album. The album was released on October 5, 2018, making it a year since the release of Take Me Apart.

Kelela Features

In 2016, Kelela was featured on “A Breath Away” from Clams Casino’s 32 Levels, “From the Ground” from Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition, and “Scales” from Solange’s A Seat at the Table.

In February 2017, she took part in Red Bull Sound Select’s 3 Days in Miami. Later that year, she featured on the track “Submission” alongside rapper Danny Brown and provided additional vocals on the track “Busted and Blue” from Gorillaz’s album Humanz.

Kelela Tour Dates |Kelela Tickets

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Kelela Album