Lola (just Lola) is a dynamic blues and
R&B singer/keyboard player who has been igniting stages in the Atlanta area
and is just beginning to break out as a national artist. Blessed with a
deep soul voice, a funkified keyboard style and an intense, high energy stage
presence, Lola combines traditional blues with hard-edged R&B to create her
own brand of contemporary, tough music.
Lola was born in New York and grew up as a
"military brat" in Oceanside, CA before her parents moved to Mobile,
AL. It was there that she began sitting in with her father's funk band,
playing trumpet and drums before switching to keyboards. Stevie Wonder, Donnie
Hathaway, Jimmy Smith and Joe Sample were her key piano influences, along with
her father's favorite, bluesman Amos Milburn. She worked her way
through college playing in three different Mobile churches, absorbing a huge
dose of gospel influence that you can hear every time she sings. Her other
vocal inspirations include Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King and Stevie
Wonder.
Finishing college, Lola won a berth as a keyboard player
with the late soul great Johnnie Taylor, touring across the country and
learning first hand how to work a crowd into a frenzy.
In 1996, after winning a nationwide talent
contest on BET television contest, she was signed by Andre Harrell to a Motown
recording contract, but the album remains unreleased since Harrell's departure
from the company.
Since striking out on her own as a band leader, Lola has shared
the stage with The Pointer Sisters, Bobby Womack, Bobby "Blue" Bland,
Betty Wright and Chubby Checker. Now she's ready for the spotlight
herself. With her firebrand stage presence, a heap of original songs,
high powered keyboards, a tight band and, most of all, her deeply soulful, rich
and powerful voice, Lola is a major new figure stepping on to the national
blues scene.
Presently she is signed with Wilbe Records.
August 2007 Wilbe Records released her new CD,
Lola “Giver He What She Wants” Wil2012-2