Get To Know – Laura Izibor

Laura Izibor’s critically acclaimed debut album, Let The Truth Be Told helms the catchy tunes “Shine”, “From My Heart To Yours“, and my personal favorite, “Don’t Stay.” Enjoy Feels Good 2 B Home’s “Get To Know” spotlight on Ireland’s contemporary R&B female singer!

Izibor may become one of Ireland’s next rising contemporary R&B superstar since the likes of Samantha Mumba. Laura is not at all annoyed by being one of the few female soul singers out of Ireland. Comparisons have been made to musical contemporaries like Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, and Corinne Bailey Rae. One can argue that the two things that Laura, Corinne, and Alicia share are their biracial backgrounds and their piano abilities. It  also doesn’t hurt that Laura has soul like the Queen herself, Aretha!

STYLE

UK news publication DAILY MAIL recently caught up with Laura for a fashion forward photo shoot. On her feet are these irresistible Christian Louboutin “Dillian” pumps as seen on the Spring 2009 runway of 3.1 Phillip Lim.

Not to be done, Laura also worn these Christian Louboutin Scarpe Platform Slingbacks …

…as did Beyonce Knowles.

If you can recall R&B songbird Ciara was spotted in the same pair outside Da Silvano restaurant in New York City. (Thanks In Their Closet!) Which lady pulled off the look – Laura or Ciara?

PRESS

Laura’s music videos can be seen in heavy rotation on BET J and its must-see countdown show, “Soul Sessions.”  Laura made her TV debut on CBS Early Morning Show back in June.

Rolling Stone recently named her ARTIST TO WATCH. VH1 placed Izibor into their coveted You Oughta Know musical group.  VIBE named her as the NEXT ARTIST.

photo credit: ATLANTIC RECORDS

The hype from the media is there but does her music support their claims? YES! Her vocals and songwriting skills are fused with jazz, R&B, funk, doo wop, pop, and most importantly soul. As Laura put it, “One door opened to the next – first I discovered Marvin Gaye, and then Otis Redding, and I just fell in love with soul music.”

MUSIC

Laura has prove that she is NOT a studio singer but a great liver performer. Catch out Laura vibing with her piano and her smoky vocals. GOOSEBUMPS!

DON’T STAY (LIVE)

SHINE (LIVE)

SHINE (OFFICAL VIDEO)

FROM MY HEART TO YOURS (LIVE) *Thanks itslikebuttababy.com!

IN HER OWN WORDS

“The title felt like a strong, almost biblical statement,” she explains. “I’ve written this album because it’s my truth. It’s a sincere record and it has a feel of survival in it as well.” Izibor resisted the urge to feature established artists on various tracks, instead creating a revealing, and very personal, document of this moment in her life. “I didn’t want to be anybody’s protege,” she says. “It’s very tempting to put in the reinforcements, but for my debut album I wanted it to be 100% from me.” [source]

AFRIK.COM caught up with Laura to talk about her debut album release back in March and she talked about her biracial upbringing.

LAURA ON HER NIGERIAN BACKGROUND:

<blockquote>Afrik.com : Your mother is Irish and your father Nigerian. How close do you feel to your Nigerian roots?

Laura Izibor : My father wasn’t in my life growing up. I’ve only reconnected with him in the past two and a half years because he had a baby boy with his new wife. I’m crazy for babies and I was like: “Oh my god! I have a baby brother. [Dad] Go away, I just want to see him! Go away we reconnect, that’s fine!”. The things are fine but through [my father’s absence] there wasn’t that much exposure to Nigerian culture than I wanted. But my favorite food is still Nigerian food, like ground rice and all these things. I have a knowledge of it. I know my grand-parents, I know my history, which tribe I’m from… that sort of things. But I want to physically go Nigeria. I need to meet my grand-mother. I absolutely would like to go there. You know, it’s horrible. It’s like this big chunk that has been brought here and I’ve family there, that I’ve spoken to… We all want to connect. Definitely, the next year or two I want to go over there and spend some time, hang in.

Afrik.com : Do you feel close to Africa in general?

Laura Izibor : I do! I always joke about this. Me and my brother, when we’re walking down the street and see an African person, there’s a natural connection that you can’t really explain. They don’t even know where I’m from but… So many of my boyfriends are like: “You know him right?” I just say: “No, let’s go. Don’t worry about it”. So it’s huge, it’s there. I feel Africa inside me and I feel that’s where my voice came from, really. [AFRIK]</blockquote>

http://en.afrik.com/article15395.html

LAURA ON HER NIGERIAN/IRISH BACKGROUND:

AFRIK.COM caught up with Laura to talk about her debut album release back in March and she talked about her biracial upbringing.

Afrik.com : Your mother is Irish and your father Nigerian. How close do you feel to your Nigerian roots?

Laura Izibor : My father wasn’t in my life growing up. I’ve only reconnected with him in the past two and a half years because he had a baby boy with his new wife. I’m crazy for babies and I was like: “Oh my god! I have a baby brother. [Dad] Go away, I just want to see him! Go away we reconnect, that’s fine!”. The things are fine but through [my father’s absence] there wasn’t that much exposure to Nigerian culture than I wanted. But my favorite food is still Nigerian food, like ground rice and all these things. I have a knowledge of it. I know my grand-parents, I know my history, which tribe I’m from… that sort of things. But I want to physically go Nigeria. I need to meet my grand-mother. I absolutely would like to go there. You know, it’s horrible. It’s like this big chunk that has been brought here and I’ve family there, that I’ve spoken to… We all want to connect. Definitely, the next year or two I want to go over there and spend some time, hang in.

Afrik.com : Do you feel close to Africa in general?

Laura Izibor : I do! I always joke about this. Me and my brother, when we’re walking down the street and see an African person, there’s a natural connection that you can’t really explain. They don’t even know where I’m from but… So many of my boyfriends are like: “You know him right?” I just say: “No, let’s go. Don’t worry about it”. So it’s huge, it’s there. I feel Africa inside me and I feel that’s where my voice came from, really. [AFRIK]

RELATED LINKS

WEBSITE: http://www.lauraizibor.com/

BLOG: http://www.lauraizibor.com/blog/

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-Izibor/14536989294

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/lauraizibor

LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD: AMAZON MUSIC