>> Mikelyn Roderick
bio: Mikelyn Roderick is an amazing talent with a sound that recalls an era when authentic songwriting and beautiful melodies were the name of the game. Born in the Cape Verde islands (West African and Portuguese), Mikelyn has a vocal style that is unique. Her diverse influences include the likes of Astrud Gilberto, Diana Ross and James Taylor.
She is not a newcomer to the music industry, having recorded a version of the Stylistics’ “Blue Magic” for Beacon Street Records when she was just nineteen.
Mikelyn first came to R&B prominence as a member of the US vocal group BY ALL MEANS, who recorded three albums for Island and Motown, including a memorable remake of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”.
After the group disbanded she went on to undertake session work for a wide range of artists, including Barry White, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Maxwell, Earth,Wind & Fire and Rahsaan Patterson, with whom she co-wrote a number of songs, including “Back To The World”, a hit single for Tevin Campbell, and “So Hot” and “Straighten It Out”, recorded by Rahsaan himself.
Now she feels the time is right to venture out as a solo artist and one of the key cuts on “Copasetic Is” – her debut solo album – is “Slippin”, also written with Rahsaan and produced by him together with Jamey Jaz. Rahsaan also joins Mikelyn for a joyful duet treatment of the Stevie Wonder classic “If You Really Love Me”, dedicated by Mikelyn to the memory of the late Syreeta Wright, who co-wrote the song.
Many of the songs have a Latin feel and they will appeal to all fans of quality soul/jazz vocals. Mikelyn Roderick is back – and planning a visit to the UK and Europe later in 2007.
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