Jamila Ford

Award-winning singer/songwriter Jamila Ford, has garnered local attention for her sizable singing chops. Her slight frame belies her bewitchingly powerful voice and inner strength. She gets your attention. Or more accurately, the Los Angeles-based singer’s smooth mezzo-soprano makes you turn your head to give her a second listen. Drawing influences from Ella Fitzgerald to Stevie Wonder to Fiona Apple, she can give you a history of 50 years of American popular music during one of her sets, with her sultry voice providing the linchpin.

“I’m definitely a singer first, but I love writing songs. It’s the absolute best way for me to express myself and to connect with other people.� She has a knack for pinpointing emotions that well from all of our experiences – the struggle for self realization, the search for inner strength and independence, the joy of love, the pain and confusion of rejection, and the acceptance of all of our imperfections. “I think people hear my songs, relate to the lyrics and realize they aren’t alone… Someone else has felt the same way too.� She is currently recording songs for her first full-length album titled “Enough,� which will feature new original material and reworked arrangements of songs from her first two EP’s, Traces of the Day and Fabulous. Both EPs are available on CDBaby.com.

Ford is an active member of West Coast Songwriters (WCS) and in 2007 was awarded “Hollywood Songwriter of the Year� for her song titled “Not Exactly Perfect� and Best Performance for her song “Easy For You.� Her original “Easy For You� also won “Best Song� at a WCS showcase in October 2009 with the prize being a review of one of her live shows by Music Connection writer Tom Laurie.

In conjunction with the 2004 release of her Fabulous EP, Jamila collaborated with her friend MJ Park on an experimental short musical film titled “Doll Face.� The film, based on “Good Things,� the second track from the EP, starred Ford and was written and directed by Park. “It’s pretty fortuitous because I wanted to make a video to promote Fabulous and MJ needed to film her final project at PAC [Pasadena Art Center].� Ford plays a doll brought to life by a mad scientist who wants to build his idea of a perfect woman.

Ford has also been creating a stir with her acoustic soul project Black Cadence. The trio features Ford and friend Carol McArthur on lead/backing vocals and acoustic guitars along with Mike Coulter playing percussion. The trio is currently in the studio producing their first EP of original music to be released in 2010.

Ford has also lent her backing vocals to the projects and live shows of artists such as Bonnie Pointer, Barry Goldberg’s Soul Riot, Fat Danny & the Hard Tymz, Lee Newman, Abraham Cloud, Nektare, Andrew Hyra, Josh Rich, Alicia Grant, Shari Puorto & the Rhythm Addicts, Artist Robinson, Larry Klein, and Joe Hajek just to name a few.