Music

Making the move from underground artist to mainstream contender could damage your credibility, especially with music purists who feel that playing with the major labels spells automatic creative compromise.

VINCENT SOYEZ

'I still have my independent way of thinking,' says singer Ledisi.

Soul singer Ledisi – nee Ledisi Anibade Young from New Orleans – won't entertain the sellout idea. After two independent releases on LeSun Records, she made the jump to big imprint Verve Forecast and found herself with a couple of high-profile Grammy nominations, including the coveted best new artist, for her third disc, 2007's Lost & Found .

"To me it's the same career but on a bigger level and with other people's money," she says by phone from Los Angeles. "I still have my independent way of thinking, and I'm just trying to incorporate it into the mainstream. I still have total freedom in being myself."

She makes no apologies for that. And one listen to Lost & Found , with its funky, soulful grooves; earthy, jazzy instrumentation; and airy production, tells you she's nobody's puppet. She's here to survive and inspire, she admits.

"I almost quit the business while making Lost & Found. It's too much pressure. I'm not like everybody else. But I'm trying to stay focused and low key, and it's not working out well. I am not used to people running up to me in the mall. That has freaked me out a bit. The low-key part isn't working anymore."

Ledisi isn't fretting, though. For a woman who emerged from relative obscurity to vie for Grammy Awards, she remains remarkably grounded. Her New Orleans resolve has something to do with that.

"There's no place like it," she says of the Big Easy. "The people are more polite, more Southern, more in your face. They are risk-takers. We don't have anything to lose. That's the spirit in New Orleans. My heart and my soul ... are on record and onstage. Hopefully you'll like it. I can't please everybody, but here it is."

So when she performs Sunday night at the Palladium Ballroom, Ledisi will be keenly aware that most of her audience probably knows her because of those Grammy nods.

"It did put me on the map," she says. "I'm just happy to be acknowledged in any way. I finally feel respected and appreciated by my peers. I feel that every decision I made was worth it. I was successful in the underground, but I needed a little help."

However, she needs no assistance in classifying her sound. While she's been dumped in the neo-soul basket right along with Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, Ledisi won't concern herself with branding tags.

"I don't care. I still do the music that I do. I'm a soul singer. As long as the music says what it needs to say, you can call me whatever you want. The music speaks for itself. It's all about how good the artist is and what you do onstage."