Jody Watley

Looking For A New Love

http://www.facebook.com/JodyWatleyOfficial  http://www.jodywatley.net Grammy Award Winning Artist. Songwriter. Producer. Founder of Avitone Recordings.


Jody Watley, singer/songwriter/producer/businesswoman and Best New Artist Grammy winner is one of the architects of 21st century pop. From her groundbreaking marriage of rap & R&B (1987’s “Friends,” a collaboration with hip-hop legends Eric B. & Rakim) to her vision-forward marriage of high fashion, street fashion and music in the ‘80s (long before it became the norm), to her fusion of jazz and underground club culture with keen pop instincts, and the ease with which she crossed and still crosses genre, Jody Watley forged the template that is now everybody’s playbook.
 Watley's entire career is about looking forward, drawing inspiration from personal heroes and iconoclasts who were and are always ten steps ahead of the pack.  The Chicago native’s eclectic, hits-filled repertoire – R&B, hip-hop, House, jazz, pop, drum & bass, ambient, spoken-word, disco, soul – spans decades and is built on a positive vision and a strong taste for artistic and aesthetic risk. 

After breaking from the majors and starting her own label Avitone Recordings in 1995, Ms. Watley began collaborating with a Who’s Who of visionary producers and remixers, many of whom were longtime fans and jumped at the chance to work with her: 4 Hero, King Britt, Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez & Little Louie Vega, Mark de Clive Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Ron Trent, Moto Blanco, and Alex Di Ciò. Thanks to her non-stop touring, her global fan base remains as fervent as ever and they’ve made chart and club hits of Ms. Watley’s indie albums – Affection (1995), Flower (1998), The Saturday Night Experience (1999), Midnight Lounge (2001), and The Makeover (2006) – and her 2014 EP Paradise.

For the past five years the ever multi-tasking Jody Watley has focused on both her thriving solo career and the group project “Jody Watley & SRL.” Much like Prince had The Revolution, NPG, and Third Eye Girl (among many other projects and aliases) as extensions or branches of his music and creativity, Jody Watley & SRL allows Watley another outlet for her artistic expression. SRL members Rosero McCoy and Nate Allen Smith – gifted singers, dancers, and choreographers in their own right – bring their own cool style and vibe to Watley’s trademark high-energy, all-love live performances, and the trio’s critically acclaimed concerts draw SRO crowds around the world. With musical influences that include Kaytranada, Anderson Paak, and Little Dragon, they’ve released several chart-topping hit singles in Europe, including the Alex Di Ciò remixes of “The Mood" and "The Passion." Their forthcoming album will be a seamless mix of dance grooves, funky beats, deep House, Contemporary R&B, and chilled out soul accented with guitar flourishes.

Jody Watley is ranked as one of the Top 60 female artists of all time and one of the greatest dance club artists of all time by Billboard Magazine. 
Ernest Hardy.