Background
I was exposed to music at a very young age and have been playing/singing as long as I can remember. My father was a jazz musician and record producer so there was never a quiet moment growing up in our household! Our home was filled with music from around the world whether it was my dad playing Guitar, Flute or Piano or if we were listening to the music he produced for international jazz musicians from the UK, India, South Africa and beyond.
I started classical Piano lessons at age 4, Clarinet lessons at age 7 and quickly progressed through my graded exams. At age 9 I auditioned for the junior school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly known as Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama). I was extremely fortunate to be awarded a place in the school and received a full scholarship to attend this wonderful institution. During my 6 years at the RSAMD I was a part of the Orchestra, Choir and Wind Orchestra and received Piano, Clarinet and Music Theory tuition from some of the finest teachers in Scotland. I achieved my Grade 8 Piano at the age of 14 and would go on to perform and compete at Grade 8 level and above.
Further education
As a young adult I ended up following in my father’s footsteps and learned how to record and produce music. I studied Sound Production at the fantastic Edinburgh College facility and graduated with my HND qualification in 2012. At around the same time (my early 20’s) I started to write my own songs and despite my classical background I ended up writing pop, soul and hiphop music. My career as a solo artist started at local open mic nights in Edinburgh and (as many things have) transitioned into releasing music online. You can listen to and watch one of my early songs ‘Forever in the Rain‘ on YouTube.
Original music
After a short time on the Edinburgh music scene I formed a hiphop/neosoul duo named DarkSoul in 2013. We released ‘The DarkSoul EP‘ and went on to perform at some great venues such as King Tuts, Kelburn Garden Party, Audio Soup festival and supported Jamie Cullum in the Usher Hall Edinburgh.
Currently I am working as the lead singer and songwriter of 7-piece Neo Soul band Mother All Mighty. We have gained a local following, played numerous Scottish music festivals, supported bands such as Ibibio Sound Machine and have garnered support from organisations such as The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. Our latest single ‘MAM‘ was recently recognised as ‘track of the week’ by BBC Introducing Scotland.
Piano teacher
Believe it or not, I’ve always struggled with confidence as a musician but I’ve never lacked a passion for it! I think this is something that many people can relate to, whether they already play an instrument, are interested in learning or are playing at a professional level. I wanted to help others gain confidence and become skilled musicians through teaching and so I decided to study for my Diploma in Piano teaching with ABRSM. Since passing my dipABRSM with a Distinction, I have been teaching Piano full time for the past 7 years and am loving every minute of it! As a teacher I am constantly evolving and learning from my students – I believe working in this way makes us teachers better musicians too! I am often fully booked but occasionally there will be spaces for new students – you can read more about this on the ‘Piano lessons’ page of this website.
Session vocalist
Having spent a lot of time in the studio recording vocals over the years, I somewhat feel more at home in the studio than I do on stage! In order to spend more time in the studio, I’ve had a room in my home acoustically treated and geared towards recording vocals. I am happy to host other musicians who want to record vocals here and am not too worried about making money from it. I’m also up for singing on other musicians’ projects, so please get in touch if you need some Soul/Jazz/RnB/Pop vocals or if you just love vocal harmonies as much as I do!
Please get in touch if you are interested in Piano lessons, booking my band Mother All Mighty, hiring me as a Session Vocalist or using my recording space.
Best wishes,
Naledi 🙂