Seneca’s Independent Music Production Program provides students with a strong foundation in the fundamentals of music recording, music business, and performance.

Rhythm and blues artist Elieyeam is a quiet storm of cool. While she is a self-taught guitarist, her voice is an instrument within itself. It is calm yet commanding; delicate yet dense; and cultivated yet raw. 

Her heritage is unique; music is in her DNA. Her mom is a singer and her dad is a musician and producer, as are her siblings. Hailing from a small town in North Carolina, she grew up accompanying her parents to studio sessions, as well as listening to them record in their home studio. Becoming an artist fulfilled a family legacy. 

A quiet and shy kid, Elieyeam channeled her thoughts through writing poetry, which eventually developed into lyrics. At 15, she became a reference vocalist alongside her brothers and four years later made her debut as a Jazz performer. Those combined experiences taught Elieyeam that some creative ideas can’t be fully executed without living life. In order to grow as an artist, she needed to grow as a person. The young talent took a hiatus from the spotlight to explore other opportunities, some of which ranged from yoga instructor to painter, but they all fostered her passion for the arts. 

In 2016, Elieyeam found her niche. Her multifaceted skills attracted the attention of a manager who secured her acting projects while she worked on music and in 2019, she made her triumphant return as a songstress. That same year, Elieyeam was nominated and won a Carolina Music Award in the Jazz category. At the top of the year for 2020, she performed at the first annual World Day of African and Afro-descendant Culture festival in Costa Rica at the request of Sophia Morris, daughter of Stevie Wonder. As the year progressed, Elieyeam was nominated and won for best R&B Singer of the Da Stage Radio awards, which recognizes the best independent R&B and Hip-Hop talent worldwide. 

Before needle meets groove on any of Elieyeam’s recordings, you can expect truth. You can expect words that have a holistic effect creating a space where love and vulnerability co-exist and flourish. Recognizing that storytelling connects her inner vision with the outside world, she pens her lyrics carefully. And as a result, her material is empowering. She communicates her messages the same way she talks because authenticity is important to her. Inspired by the genius of Amy Winehouse, Sade, Natalie Cole and Jamie Cullum, the intense emotions and psychological depths of these artists resonate throughout her music.

Another essential part of Elieyeam’s magic is her ability to mesh diverse genres like hip-hop, rock, heavy metal and country into a cohesive sound that establishes her own identity. While she experiments, she never moves too far away from the sources of her inspiration. This philosophy is expressed on her single “I Am Eli,” where she strips herself of anything that is in conflict with the essence of who she is. The sparse, mellow instrumentation is dramatically arranged, serving as the perfect backdrop to Elieyeam’s poetically beautiful messaging. 

Upon relocating to Atlanta in 2016 to further pursue her acting career, an entrepreneurial-minded Elieyeam began exploring new territory and building with local artists and tastemakers. One of her collaborative partners was Rahzel Brown, Jr., whose father is one of the original members of the hiphop collective The Roots. She also began performing on festival stages like A3C and Music Business Empowerment Conference, as well as virtual showcases in New York, Los Angeles and London which took place in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Effortlessly sophisticated, Elieyam is an anomaly possessing the kind of staying power few contemporary artists have demonstrated in the new millennium. She’s an artist of the people, by the people and for the people.

Written by Tamiko Hope in 2020

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