Jacksonville, FL. (Tiffany Duhart/ Nokturnal Escape Entertainment) - Saturday, July 8, 2006 8:00pm, neo soul artist,
Goapele with her band performs her hit single 'Closer' and others with special guests Noel and others at Soul Release Live at Boomtown Subterreana 140 West Monroe Street Jacksonville, FL. Advance tickets: $30 show and $40 show plus appetizer and drink. For more information about tickets and more, call (904) 626-2812 or visit https://www.nokturnalescape.com
Goapele "What I really appreciate about the music that I grew up to is that I feel like I can play those albums now and still hear something new. It's still relevant. That's how I want my music to be perceived. It's what I strive for." -Goapele Goapele (pronounced "gwa-pa-lay") is a multi-faceted artist whose lyrical themes range from political activism to romantic sensuality to deep spiritual truths, while her music combines elements of soul, hip-hop, jazz and rhythm and blues into a smooth and seductive blend uniquely her own.
Her debut album, Even Closer , began as a ten-song EP (entitled "Closer") that Goapele and her family distributed as an independent release in 2001, eventually selling 3,000 copies based on ecstatic word-of-mouth endorsements and her growing reputation as an incandescent live performer. In 2002, Goapele reworked her now highly-collectible debut EP, adding five new songs, and, along with her brother, Namane, and Theo Rodrigues, formed the indie label Skyblaze for the purpose of distributing the album now called Even Closer .
The indie version of Even Closer was an immediate regional hit, at one point outselling 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' in the Bay Area. The album's indie incarnation has, to date, SoundScanned more than 60,000 units and climbed into the Top 100, reaching No 63 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. A three-star review of Even Closer in Rolling Stone , who singled out Goapele as one of its "Ten Artists To Watch," praised her "...distinct vocal sensibility..." calling Goapele "...a balance of steamrolling Chaka Khan power and yoga-girl suppleness that's full of promise." Billboard invoked Nina Simone and Sade as influences while stressing that "...this classic chanteuse-in-the making is definitely her own woman of substance."
While Even Closer brought Goapele to her initial nationwide attention, audiences continued to pack into clubs ranging from New York's famed S.O.B's to the Bay Area's fabled Fillmore Auditorium and Yoshi's, where her debut run sold-out four shows in two nights.
After finishing the record, she toured North America with Spearhead. She returned to the studio in 2002 to begin work on her second record.
https://www.goapele.com https://myspace.com/goapelemusic
