page_title: Leah LaBelle
section_title: 2011–2018: Record contract
hierarchical_section_title: Leah LaBelle / Life and career / 2011–2018: Record contract
caption_attribution_description: English: Leah LaBelle performing on October 9, 2013 at the Crocodile Café in Seattle, Washington
context_page_description: Leah LaBelle Vladowski was an American singer. Born in Toronto, Canada, and raised in Seattle, Washington, LaBelle began to pursue music as a career in her teens. During her childhood, she performed in the Total Experience Gospel Choir and the musical Black Nativity. At age 16, she was a finalist on the third season of American Idol. After placing twelfth in the season finals, she attended the Berklee College of Music, where she collaborated with Andreao Heard on a demo. LaBelle then moved to Los Angeles, where she recorded covers of R&B and soul music through her YouTube channel. Keri Hilson hired LaBelle as a backing vocalist after watching her rendition of "Energy", which led to her working as a background singer for other artists on their tours.
  LaBelle signed a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings. Her sampler album Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri Present Leah LaBelle was distributed to record companies, and was supported by the single "Sexify" and the promotional single "What Do We Got To Lose?". LaBelle received the Soul Train Centric Award at the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards.
context_section_description: In 2011, LaBelle signed a record contract with L.A. Reid's company Epic in a partnership with Pharrell Williams' label I Am Other and Jermaine Dupri's label So So Def Recordings. Dupri and Williams became interested in LaBelle after watching her YouTube covers, and contacted her through Twitter. They became mentors for her; prior to their messages, LaBelle had considered giving up on a music career.
  On May 1, 2012, LaBelle released the five-track sampler album Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri Present Leah LaBelle, which was distributed to record companies. The sampler album was uploaded to LaBelle's SoundCloud account. It was promoted with the single "Sexify", which peaked at number 23 and 89 on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively. A 2018 Billboard article cited "Sexify" as LaBelle's breakthrough. "What Do We Got To Lose?" was released as a promotional single in November 2012. LaBelle said the sampler album indicated the sound for her debut studio album, which she described as "feel-good texture music" with a "throwback-but-new feel". She recorded music for the album with Williams in Miami, Florida and Dupri in Atlanta, Georgia.
  At the 2012 Soul Train Music Awards, LaBelle received the Soul Train Centric Award and performed a tribute to Aretha Franklin and Teena Marie with Fantasia Barrino. She sang at the 2012 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana and BET's Music Matters showcase, held over the weekend of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. The standalone-single, "Lolita", was released in May 2013. A digital extended play (EP) of electro house remixes and instrumentals was made available the prior month. "Lolita" reached number seven on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and peaked at number 264 on the official Tophit airplay chart.
  In 2013, LaBelle featured on Brian Cross' single "Shot Gun" from his album Pop Star, and did background vocals for Nelly's seventh studio album M.O.. She opened for JoJo's The Agápē Tour that fall. The following year, LaBelle provided vocals for Williams' second studio album Girl. She reunited with Heard in 2017 during the 59th Annual Grammy Awards; he said that she was going through a "dark period" due to her inability to release new music following the poor commercial performance of her singles. He believed she had given up on a music career.
caption: LaBelle performing at the Crocodile Cafe in October 2013
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