Amel Larrieux

Amel Larrieux (born March 8, 1973) is a U.S. singer-songwriter and keyboard player. She was formerly lead vocalist of the 90s r&b and soul group Groove Theory. Larrieux was born and brought up in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, New York City, New York. Her mother was a dance critic and professor, who encouraged Larrieux to grow up in a free-spirited, artistic environment. Many of her influences are drawn from R&B, soul, jazz, folk, hip hop, and gospel, with flashes of Middle Eastern, West African, and Indian ethnic styles. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters. As a solo artist, her music is mostly categorized as fitting within the nu-soul genre, though she also dabbles in jazz, blues and gospel sounds. She sang lead vocals with Sade's band Sweetback while Sade was on hiatus. On her last album 'Lovely Standards' she gravitated away from nu-soul to produce a cover-album of those jazz and blues singers by whom she has been inspired. Larrieux is also influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Prince as she has previously credited on her website.