LaKisha Jones

Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 season of American Idol, LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim center stage in music, theatre and television.

Having worked with hit-making songwriters and producers including Tony Nicholas (Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross), Ro & Sauce (Brandy, Ne-Yo) and Greg Curtis (Keyshia Cole, Yolanda Adams), Jones’ album So Glad I’m Me featured a spirited mix of R&B and soul. A few noteworthy songs included the single “Same Song,” penned by award-winning songwriter Dianne Warren, Whitney Houston’s “You Give Good Love,” the gospel song “Just as I Am,” and Jones’ soaring ballad to her daughter, “Beautiful Girl.”

Her drive and motivation dates back to her childhood in Flint, Michigan. Raised by her mother and grandmother, Jones was exposed to music by legendary singers such as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle, with her grandmother urging the young girl to “let your voice shine” thereby prompting Jones to sing in church choirs and music programs. Joining various choral groups and a cappella choruses throughout high school, Jones entered and won the top prize at Flint’s local talent contest, The Super Show, in 1997.

Jones then went to New York to audition for American Idol and segued from “Idol” to the Broadway stage for The Color Purple where she played “Sophia”, which she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor. Jones participated in Khan’s 35th anniversary tour. Following her Broadway stint, Jones provided vocal coaching on MTV’s reality competition Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods, a show designed to find and hone Broadway’s next star.

A frequent soloist with symphonies around the world, Ms. Jones has performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Evansville Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Windham Chamber Singers, Grand Rapids Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, and the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, among many others.
 

Photo provided by artist