Bands // p 18 of 34

Lady Wray

Nicole Monique Wray (born May 2, 1979), also known as simply Nicole, is an American R&B and hip hop singer. Her 1998 debut single "Make It Hot" was certified gold.

Musical career

Wray was born in Salinas, California and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia. After being introduced to Missy Elliott, Wray was featured on Missy's platinum certified debut Supa Dupa Fly. When Elliott started her own label, The Goldmind, the then 17-year-old Wray was the first artist signed. She impressed Elliot with her singing skills.

In 1998, her debut album Make It Hot was released. Heavily criticized for Elliott's heavy-handed involvement (she produced, wrote, and performed on much of the album) the first single, "Make It Hot", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified gold. Her second single, "I Can't See", reached number 36 on the Rhythmic Top 40 chart. Her debut album Make It Hot peaked at number nineteen on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (number 42 on The Billboard 200) and dropped off by the end of the year. The third single, "Eyes Better Not Wander", peaked at number 71 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Later that year, Wray would sing the hook to "All n My Grill" on Missy Elliott's platinum certified second album, Da Real World.

In July 2001, Wray released "I'm Lookin'", the first single from her planned second album Elektric Blue. "I'm Lookin'" peaked at number 66 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but the album would eventually be shelved.

After amicably parting with The Goldmind, Wray was sought after to feature vocals on various albums and soundtracks. She would go on to sign a new album deal and under the guidance of Damon Dash was featured on Cam'ron's gold certified 2004 release, Purple Haze.

Later that year she released the single, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" from her scheduled Roc-A-Fella Records debut and sophomore studio set LoveChild. Though garnering some buzz, there ultimately was not enough push to release the album. After the temporary halt of Roc-A-Fella, LoveChild would suffer the same fate as its predecessor.

Wray moved through the Dame Dash Music Group, and also Channel 7 Records, garnering several guest vocal appearances.

Still maintaining her work relationship with Damon Dash, Wray joined The Black Keys rock/hip-hop collective Blakroc, and was a major vocal contributor to the group's self-titled November 2009 debut. Wray was then enlisted to add her background vocals on The Black Keys' seventh studio LP, Brothers, which was released in May 2010.

In 2010, she appeared on Kid Cudi's second album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager on the song "The End", alongside Chip tha Ripper and GLC.

In 2012, Wray teamed up with fellow soulstress Terri Walker to form retro-soul duo Lady. They were signed to Truth and Soul Records and their self-titled debut album was released on March 5, 2013.

In 2016, she announced a new single "Do It Again" and a new album "Queen Alone" set for a September 23, 2016 release date, under her new stage name Lady Wray.

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Lakota John

Lakota John is an old soul with a love for the blues. “Pembroke’s Lakota John Locklear is a prodigious blues guitarist of Lumbee and Lakota lineage–Indy Week”. From Robeson County, North Carolina and born in 1997, John Lakota Locklear is no stranger to music. He grew up listening to his dad’s music library and at 6 years old, he picked up one of his Dad’s old harmonicas and at age 7, his first guitar. This lefty learned to play guitar in standard tuning and was intrigued by the sound of the slide guitar. At age 10, he bought himself a glass slide, placed it on his pinky finger and he has been sliding over the frets ever since. Lakota John started performing in 2009 and has repeated performances at the NC Museum of History; The PineCone Music Series; Shakori Hills Music Festival; IAIA Music Festival; the North Carolina Indian Heritage Celebration; New Mexico State Fair, and many more.

He is a 2015 NAMA Nominee (Native American Music Awards) and has opened up for and shared the stage with Native American Blues Artist, Pura Fe; Blues icon, Taj Mahal; Native blues rocker, Keith Secola; Scott Ainslie, Blues Historian and Musician; Cary Morin, Native American Blues Guitarist and mentor; the Jeff Sipe Trio; Legendary Bluesman Mr. John Dee Holeman and the South Carolina “Blues Doctor” Mr. Drink Small. Lakota John continues to learn alongside the elder bluesmasters, carrying on the traditional sounds of the acoustic Piedmont to the electric blues guitar styles and preserving his heritage with songs from the Native American flute. Some of his musical influences include Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Robert Johnson, Taj Mahal, Jimi Hendrix, Derek Trucks, Jesse Fuller and many-many more.

Lakota John received two scholarships, 2008 and 2009 to attend Centrum’s Acoustic Blues Festival in Port Townsend, WA, where he participated in a week of guitar workshops and jam sessions with the late John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and many more. In 2009, he released his first CD “Old Bluez That’s Newz to Me” and shortly after, Music Maker Relief Foundation began working with the guitar prodigy, Lakota John, as one of their “Next Generation Artists”. Humble thanks to Pura Fe, blues musician and mentor, for the introduction to the Music Maker record label.

^{Source lakotajohn.com}

Lapcat

The inter-continental trio known as Lapcat, comprised of Cate, Jonas and Jean-Jaques, combines Swiss cool with American fun. Born out of a shared love of creative expression, and drawing inspirations from everyday life, Lapcat takes diverse past influences and goes somewhere new. With sounds ranging from melodic vocals and electronic beats, to hip-hop rhythms and sparse instrumentals, the music they make is like dark chocolate with chile: bittersweet and spicy. Moving lyrics and spirited beats create the feeling of traveling to far away places only to find yourself finally at home with the ones you love.

^{Source LapCatMusic.com}

Lapdog

What is a Lapdog? Who is a Lapdog? Why is a Lapdog here and not there? I know just as little as everyone else so it's best not to ask and not to tell.

"From scrum to scram this rat has seen the scene. Dodging the darts, up and down, corner to corner, fast as fate and swift like salt." That's the story of a project of this website. The life and times of Lapdog.

Lapdog is most likely a rock n roll band from SLC with frequently changing members and styles. You want in? Come join but then leave after if you want to. Lapdog is mostly a recording project actually. Not much to say other than that. . .

Lots of love to the friends who come and record and play it live with us in our basement.

^{Source lapdogband.com}

Larsen Gardens

By Jeffrey Brown

Sarah Edmonds, the sole member of Larsen Gardens, told the Daily Cardinal she is on the road looking for magic.

Now, in the opening stretch of her self-booked tour, she lives in her minivan, occasionally staying with friends when possible. The long, uninterrupted stretches of solitude are an experience Edmonds considers sacred saying, “The chance to be alone is a chance to connect to yourself.”

Edmonds’ story begins with piano lessons as a child in Salem, Oregon. She was always fascinated by musical composition. She then moved to Nashville for school and purchased her first guitar — what would become her primary instrument — at 19 or 20 years old.

As a singer for a 16 piece jazz band in the Nashville area, Edmonds grew very familiar with the works of June Christy, Sarah Vaughn and the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald. She said performing the work of these female jazz icons taught her to express the sultry, sensual and intimate side of her voice.

But, these songs, being of their time, center traditional gender norms and the male gaze. She loved the music but felt it could use some updates on its treatment of relationships — something that empowers “the feminine side we push down when we’re scared.”

That’s a large part of what goes into Larsen Gardens... (continued)

^{Source dailycardinal.com}

Lauren Ruth Ward

Declared by music critics as a cross between Janis Joplin, Florence Welch and Courtney Barnett, Lauren Ruth Ward is a force of nature. Her lyrics are secrets to strangers, writing about her life’s trajectory sharing both vulnerability and strength delivered with grit and vibrato. Her band flirts with 1950-90’s rock and roll nuances, allowing Ward to release a powerhouse of raw, visceral emotion in their live show. Her critically acclaimed debut album Well, Hell introduced her too a worldwide audience, with accolades from NYLON, Noisey, Consequence of Sound, The Los Angeles Times, Indie Shuffle and more. She has played to sold out crowds in US and overseas, sharing stages with artists as diverse as Keith Urban, Shirley Manson, Eddie Vedder, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Shakey Graves, LP and Liz Phair. Her band capped off last year with a cover of “White Rabbit” in celebration of Grace Slick’s birthday and paid the same respects for Jim Morrison’s 75th by releasing “Happy Birthday Jim”, a 7 song Doors tribute album which included music videos for all 7 tracks. Ward hit the ground running this year releasing 6 original singles and 3 music videos. This prolific catalog includes; “Valhalla”, “Hungry Barber”, “Pullstring”, “We Are Grown Ups”, “Wise Gal” and soon to be released “Super Bullshit”. “Same Soul”, a collaboration between Ward and Desi Valentine for Jack Daniels, was also released. Ward is addicted to discovering herself. She joined forces with Chris Hess of SWIMM for their side project called Aging Actress, directed/produced a music video for Alicia Blue’s song “Incognito” and will be releasing a 12 track, 5 music video, body of work in the new year. She is inspired by everything and is most thankful for her guitarist / writing partner Eduardo Rivera for nurturing their creative process.

^{Source LaurenRuthWardMusic.com}

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, known for being a member of Fugees, and for her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won many awards and broke several sales records. Raised mostly in South Orange, New Jersey, Hill began singing with her music-oriented family during her childhood. In high school, Hill was approached by Pras Michel for a band he started, which his friend, Wyclef Jean, soon joined. They renamed themselves the Fugees and released the albums Blunted on Reality (1994), and the Grammy Award–winning The Score (1996), which sold six million copies in the U.S. Hill rose to prominence with her African-American and Caribbean music influences, her rapping and singing, and her rendition of the hit "Killing Me Softly". Her tumultuous romantic relationship with Jean led to the split of the band in 1997, after which she began to focus on solo projects.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) remains Hill's only solo studio album. It received critical acclaim showcasing a representation of life and relationships and locating a contemporary voice within the neo soul genre. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and has sold approximately eight million copies there. This included the singles "Doo Wop (That Thing)" (also a number one), "Ex-Factor" (became her biggest solo hit in UK), and "Everything Is Everything". At the 41st Grammy Awards, the record earned her five awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. During this time, she won several other awards and became a common sight on the cover of magazines.

Soon afterward, Hill dropped out of the public eye, dissatisfied with the music industry and suffering with the pressures of fame. Her last full-length recording, the new-material live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2002), sharply divided critics and sold poorly compared to her first album and work with the Fugees. Hill's subsequent activity, which includes the release of a few songs and occasional festival appearances, has been sporadic. Her behavior has sometimes caused audience dissatisfaction; a reunion with her former group did not last long. Her music and public statements have become critical of pop culture and societal institutions. Hill has six children, five of them with Rohan Marley. In 2012 she pleaded guilty to tax evasion and served a three-month prison sentence the following year.

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Leah Dou

Dou Jingtong (born 3 January 1997), also known as Leah Dou, is a Chinese singer-songwriter who primarily sings in English. She is the daughter of Chinese musician Dou Wei and Chinese-born Hong Kong singer Faye Wong. She first contributed her voice to her mother's song "童 (Tong)" when she was 1 year old. In 2011, Dou formed her first band and became the lead singer. In 2012, she released her first song "With You". In 2013, she launched second personal original single "On the Beach", in the same year, she released third personal original single "Blue Flamingo". She debuted in 2015 in a performance in Tokyo. Later in Clockenflap 2015, she debuted in Hong Kong. She released her first single River Run on December 11, 2015, selling 25,000 copies on QQ Music in three days. Her second single Brother was released in 2016 for a Chinese Shu Uemura campaign. In 2016, she won the QQ New Female Artist Of The Year.

Dou has two half sisters, Li Yan (李嫣), the daughter of her mother Faye Wong and her stepfather Li Yapeng, and Dou Jiayuan (窦佳嫄), the daughter of her father Dou Wei and her stepmother Gao Yuan (高原). Dou and her half sister Li Yan and her mother Faye Wong were all born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing.

Before reaching her current level of fame, Dou spent time studying at Berklee College of Music, only to withdraw from school after two years to couch-surf in Los Angeles.

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Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. Along with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the band's heavy, guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as one of the progenitors of heavy metal. Their style drew from a wide variety of influences, including blues, psychedelia, and folk music.

After changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Although the group were initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums released over eleven years, from Led Zeppelin (1969) to In Through the Out Door (1979). Their untitled fourth studio album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971) and featuring the song "Stairway to Heaven", is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it helped to secure the group's popularity.

Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin's music, particularly early in their career, while Plant generally supplied the lyrics. Jones' keyboard-based compositions later became central to the group's catalogue, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their output and touring schedule were limited during the late 1970s, and the group disbanded following Bonham's death from alcohol-related asphyxia in 1980. In the decades that followed, the surviving members sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off Led Zeppelin reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Jason Bonham taking his late father's place behind the drums.

Many critics consider Led Zeppelin to be one of the most successful, innovative, and influential rock groups in history. They are one of the best-selling music artists in the history of audio recording; various sources estimate the group's record sales at 200 to 300 million units worldwide. With RIAA-certified sales of 111.5 million units, they are the third-best-selling band in the US. Each of their nine studio albums placed in the top 10 of the Billboard album chart and six reached the number-one spot. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums. Rolling Stone magazine described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the Seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography of the band states that they were "as influential" during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s.

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Lee Rafugee

Lee Rafugee is a four piece Rock n' Roll band based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The band started in 2020 during covid as a way to "break on through" during such an ambivalent time.
The sounds of Lee Rafugee range between the despondencies of the old soul singers to the loose and unconfined presence of the

Band of Gypsys or Gary Clark Jr. With Sarah DeGraw on guitar and vocals, Aidan Triantafillou on guitar and vocals, Cael Sorenson on bass, and Ethan Shaw on percussion, the best way to sum up the sounds and feeling of Lee Rafugee is unpredictable.

^{Source soundcloud.com}

Leif Vollebekk

Leif Vollebekk is a Canadian indie folk singer-songwriter, whose 2017 album Twin Solitude was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize and the 2018 Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year.

Of mixed Norwegian and French descent and originally from Ottawa, Ontario, he learned to play violin, guitar and piano in childhood. While studying philosophy at the University of Ottawa he spent some time in Iceland on an educational exchange, before moving to Montreal after graduation to pursue his musical career.

His debut album, Inland, was released on Nevado Records in 2010, and incorporated some songs he had written during his trip to Iceland. He followed up with North Americana in 2013 on Outside Music. He then signed to Secret City Records, which released Twin Solitude in 2017.

All three albums were supported by extensive touring in both North America and Europe.

His fourth album, New Ways, was released November 1, 2019 on Secret City Records.

He also contributed to Piano mal, the 2012 debut album by Julien Sagot.

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Lenny Kravitz

Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. His "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all of the instruments himself when recording.

He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category as well as setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male. He has been nominated for and won other awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards, and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. He was also ranked number 93 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. On December 1, 2011, Kravitz was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He played Cinna in the Hunger Games film series.

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Leon Bridges

Todd Michael "Leon" Bridges (born July 13, 1989) is an American soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. He is best known for his song "Coming Home", which received regular airplay and was also a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotify. Bridges' debut album, also titled Coming Home, was released on June 23, 2015, on Columbia Records and subsequently nominated for Best R&B Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Bridges learned to play the guitar by playing simple chords to accompany his lyrics. While working at Del Frisco's Grille in Fort Worth, he played countless open-mics until he was signed by Columbia Records in December 2014. It was his song "Lisa Sawyer", about his mother's conversion, that first defined his style.

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Lera Lynn

Throughout her career — a nearly decade-long run filled with three album releases, a career-shifting appearance and soundtrack for HBO’s True Detective, hundreds of shows on both sides of the Atlantic, and a sound encompassing everything from Americana to stark indie rock — Lera Lynn has balanced her fierce independence with a string of collaborations.

She's written songs with T Bone Burnett and Rosanne Cash. She's recorded albums with full bands (2014's The Avenues, hailed by outlets like Rolling Stone and American Songwriter) and smaller lineups (the experimental, NPR and New York Times-approved Resistor, which Lynn co-produced at her Nashville home). On her fourth album, Plays Well With Others, she teams up with eight different duet partners and seven co-writers, resulting in her most diverse, collaborative work to date.

Plays Well With Others is a unique duets album — one in which nearly every song is completely co-written and co-sung. Peter Bradley Adams, John Paul White, Dylan LeBlanc, Andrew Combs, Rodney Crowell, Shovels & Rope, JD McPherson, and Nicole Atkins all make appearances, working alongside Lynn not only to perform these songs, but to create them, too.

"Songwriting can be such a personal process; in the past I have tended to do it alone," Lynn admits. “With this record, I wanted to get outside of my own writing corner. I have access to a great community of writers and singers in Nashville, and it became an exciting challenge to sit down with some friends and say, 'Let's write a duet — one that maybe hasn't been written before — and then record it together.' This was an important thing for me to do as an artist: to open myself up to other people and have some fun.”

Lynn recorded Plays Well With Others at John Paul White's studio, Sun Drop Sound, in Florence, Alabama. There — with Lynn, White, and the Alabama Shakes' Ben Tanner all serving as co-producers — she tracked nine songs in a series of live takes. Looking to add some sonic framework to an album whose tracklist was vast and varied, she only used acoustic instruments, layering upright piano, strings, percussion, acoustic guitars, and creative sounds into arrangements that nodded to artists like Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Neil Young, John Lennon and Tom Petty. The result is an album that's at times more stripped-down than The Avenues and far less amplified than Resistor, while still shining a light on Lynn's striking voice and unique blend of American music.

^{Source LeraLynn.com}

Levon Helm

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the vocalists for the Band. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

Helm also had a successful career as a film actor, appearing as Loretta Lynn's father in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), as Chuck Yeager's friend and colleague Captain Jack Ridley in The Right Stuff (1983), as a Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007), and as General John Bell Hood in In the Electric Mist (2009).

In 1998, Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer which caused him to lose his singing voice. After treatment, his cancer eventually went into remission, and he gradually regained the use of his voice. His 2007 comeback album Dirt Farmer earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 91 in its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, Electric Dirt, his 2009 follow-up to Dirt Farmer, won the first Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, a category inaugurated in 2010. In 2011, his live album Ramble at the Ryman won the Grammy in the same category. In 2016, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 22 in its list of 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time.

The Band

Helm returned to the group, then referred to simply as "the band", as it was known around Woodstock. While contemplating a recording contract, Helm had dubbed the band "The Crackers". However, when Robertson and their new manager Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was given as "The Band". Under these contracts, the Band was contracted to Grossman, who in turn contracted their services to Capitol Records. This arrangement allowed the Band to release recordings on other labels if the work was done in support of Dylan. Thus the Band was able to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and to release The Last Waltz, both on other labels. The Band also recorded their own album Music from Big Pink (1968), which catapulted them into stardom. Helm was the Band's only American member.

On Music from Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang backup and harmony, with the exception of "The Weight". However, as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked to the South for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm was primarily a drummer and vocalist and increasingly sang lead, although, like all his bandmates, he was also a multi-instrumentalist. On occasion Manuel switched to drums while Helm played mandolin, guitar, or bass guitar (while Danko played fiddle) on some songs. Helm played the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp".

Helm with the Band at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 1976 Photo: David Gans
Helm remained with the Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, which was the subject of the documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese. Helm repudiated his involvement with The Last Waltz shortly after the completion of its final scenes. In his autobiography Helm criticized the film and Robertson who produced it.

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