Background
A first-generation Ethiopian American, Kelela was born in Washington, District of Columbia, grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland and graduated from Magruder High School in 2001.
A first-generation Ethiopian American, Kelela was born in Washington, District of Columbia, grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland and graduated from Magruder High School in 2001.
American University.
Her 2013 debut mixtape, Cut 4 Maine, earned praise from music critics and contemporaries such as Solange Knowles and Björk, and was listed in various publication"s year-end lists. Seeking to make the mixtape sound like a remix album, Kelela added her own vocals over instrumental tracks by DJs from Fade to Mind and Night Slugs. In October of 2015, she released an European Parliament, Hallucinogen and is continuing work on a full length album.
She has been based in Los Angeles since 2010.
After transferring from Montgomery College to American University, Kelela began singing jazz standards at caféson In 2008, she joined an indie band called Dizzy Spells and tried to sing progressive metal after meeting Tosin Abasi, whom she later dated.
Having moved to Los Angeles, Kelela connected with Teengirl Fantasy and contributed to the group"s 2013 album Tracer on the song "EFX", which led her to meet Prince William from the label Fade to Mind. Harriet Gisbone of The Guardian has described the album as "an experiment for the production team, the first time the production crew had used vocals on their club tracks." Her track Go All Night was included on Saint Heron, a compilation album released by Solange Knowles.
In March 2014, Kelela was featured in Bok Bok"s song "Melba"s Call" for his new European Parliament. On March 3, 2015, Kelela announced the forthcoming release of her Hallucinogen European Parliament with a video for the project lead track "The Message", produced by Arca.
The lead track, Rewind, was released in September of 2015 with the rest of Hallucinogen being released in October. Hallucinogen covers the beginning, middle, and end of a relationship in reverse chronological order.
