Interview with Leanne

She is one of South Africa’s most aspiring R&B artists; she’s
young, beautiful and a breath of fresh air to the local music industry.

Who am I speaking about? The talented songster Leanne, of course, who
is sure to cause a stir at the SAMA Awards in the near future! In a
genre where artists like TK and Loyiso have already made themselves
household names, she is here to also lay claim to her stake.
Leanne has sung as a lead in one of the country’s biggest churches;
been a backing vocalist to top South African artists; opened for the
world’s best when they visited our shores; performed in Spain; recently
released a smashing album and has a recording deal with Universal
International in Poland. I recently met with Leanne the First Lady of
Creative Kingdom Records and this is what she had to say.

Nick:    For those who don’t know you, please tell them who Leanne is?    

Leanne: I am just a regular girl from Eldorado Park, who just always
had a passion for singing. I’m just like everyone else. I still go and
visit my friends in Eldo’s you know, I am still just this down to earth
person who sings.

Nick: How did you become a singer in the Rhema Bible Church?

Leanne: My parents have been going to Rhema for ages, from the time my
brother and I were little. My mother first started singing in the choir
and because I have been influenced musically so much by my mother, and
because I love music so much, I thought this would be a good start for
me. I was the youngest member in my choir. I was thirteen years old
when I started singing.

Nick: Did you start in the Youth Ministry?

Leanne: No, I started in the main choir; I’ve never been in the youth
at my church, actually. I know it sounds strange but I have always been
in the main auditorium, in the main choir. So that’s how it all started
really, my mother was in the choir first, then after her, I joined.

Nick: About 3 years back I was in Rhema, and during praise &
worship I was expecting Janine to be on stage with Lionel Peterson
leading the choir, but you were on stage and after hearing you sing I
said to myself damn she is good. Soon after you were singing backing
vocals for Loyiso. How did this all come about?

Leanne: I was discovered in church actually. I was on stage leading
praise & worship, as I normally do, and Loyiso, his brother Zwai
and his manager were in church that day, sitting in the front row. I
hadn’t really noticed them up until the service was near the end,
during the altar call. I saw them looking at me and pointing, then they
came up to me and we started speaking. We became friends before I
started working with them. A year into my friendship with Loyiso and
his manager, they didn’t know how well I could sing. Only after a year
of getting to know them we decided to work together. I started as
Loyiso’s backing vocalist.

Nick: After being discovered by Loyiso & Zwai you worked with many
top artists including Danny K, Savannah and Janine doing backing
vocals. Which one has been most memorable for you?

Leanne: I know this sounds so clichéd but I can’t say that any one of
them was the best, because everyone had their own special flavour.
Janine was the gospel artist that I worked with, Loyiso is simply in a
league of his own, and Savannah is this young girl that had to come to
South Africa who I work with. Savannah and I were kind of growing at
the same time so we were very much on the same level.

Nick: One of the first songs you recorded was “Reason to Love You” with
Loyiso. What was it like when you heard the track for the first time
after it was recorded?

Leanne: I am not somebody that likes to listen to myself but if there
is somebody else singing with me its okay, I will tolerate it. It was
just amazing. Normally, when I used to write in studio for Loyiso it
wasn’t like oh let’s work on this song for three weeks before we go on.
We used to spend three or four hours and the next time I hear it, it
was probably on radio. So it was always good, I love working with him.
 

Nick: You have opened many shows for the likes of Alicia Keys, P Diddy
(Aids Concert, Cape Town) Kenny & Chantè, as well as Erykah Badu.
Which one stands out as one of the best performances for you?

Leanne: It would probably have to be in Cape Town when I opened for
Alicia Keys for the Aids Concert. I loved it because it was just when
Alicia had become famous and it was amazing. That would have to be one
of my best.

Nick: Were there any egos that you had to deal with any of these artists?

Leanne: I think that everyone is different. In that concert I didn’t
experience any negativity from them. It was really cool. They have
entourages with them so you can’t really get close to them and you
don’t know what they’re really like, if they have an attitude or not.
But I’ve heard of a lot of artists experiencing attitude.

Nick: You had a brief stint in Spain in 2003 where you did a show that
paid tribute to pop artists. How did this come about and what was the
experience like?

Leanne: That was interesting. A friend of mine told me they were having
auditions for the trip to Spain. I went to audition and the guy from
the Spanish agency was there. They loved me the first time they saw me
and I had to go back for another audition. Everything happened so fast.
I think the audition was in February and in April I left for Spain.

Nick: In January this year you launched your debut album Simply Luvlee,
which lives up to the title of the album. Tell us what inspired you for
this album.

Leanne: A lot. I am such a loving person that whenever I write I want
to introduce something lovable in there. Obviously there are different
experiences that I have had; bad, good but love is what really inspired
me.

Nick: In December last year I got a copy of your CD before it was
released. I listen to all the tracks, which are all superb. Did you
have creative freedom working on this album?

Leanne: Oh definitely, I was never put under any pressure, like ‘you
gotta do this song that way!’ Most of the songs on the album I wrote
myself, and if I didn’t like what my engineer and producers were doing
I would tell them to change it.
 
Nick: On this album you worked with Mad Skillz, some of the top
producers in the country who consist of Brandon “Big Boy” Mkhize, Mike
Mantshana, Sipho Dlamini and Loyiso Bala. What was it like to work with
them?

Leanne: Those guys are so crazy and I love them so much because we’ve
just become friends because we’ve known each other for many, many years
and when we are in the studio together everything comes together and I
know what each of them wants.

Nick: “Got Me Going Crazy” as well as “In Your Hands” has been doing
well on radio stations across the country. Which track should we listen
out for on our radios should we expect “Candy Cryss”?

Leanne: Definitely. “Candy Cryss” is huge in Cape Town. Two weeks back
Loyiso and I did a show in Cape Town and when it was played the people
went crazy. So yeah “Candy Cryss” is definitely one of the next songs,
and will probably be the next video.

Nick: When a person thinks of South African R&B two names come to
mind. The Queen of R&B TK and Loyiso as well, what does Leanne have
to offer this genre?

Leanne: Loyiso and TK have been in the industry for such a long time
people always associate them with R&B. So I think for me the
advantages are that I am new, coloured, young, and I bring a whole new
flavour to it as well. You know that TK has got her own vibe and I will
bring my own vibe to this genre as well.

Nick: On Loyiso’s latest album Amplified he worked with O’Ryan Winter
from Backstage as well as Levelle Eaton from Devantè fame on a track
called “She Let Me Go”. Will we ever get to hear Leanne, TK & KB on
one track together?

Leanne: I would really, really love to. I have always spoken about
working with KB, and TK is always really busy but I don’t think we
would have the time. But if the opportunity arises I will definitely
grab it because they are amazing. I really love them. I would be the
first to do that collaboration

Nick: You were recently nominated in the Metro FM Music Awards for best
R&B and you are a contender for the SAMA Award for Best R&B as
well. Have you set yourself any goals when it comes to awards for this
album?

Leanne: The strange thing is that I had no idea that I was going to be
nominated for the Metro FM Awards. First of all, it takes a really long
time for people to acknowledge an artist in the country, especially an
R&B artist, so I thought it was going to be very, very difficult.
But now that I have been nominated, I can see that people are really
listening and paying attention so I know I am making an impact. So I
would really love to win a SAMA next year or even get nominated to see
that I am getting the recognition. Or a Grammy…that’s really what I am
going for.

Nick: In the past, the focus was on Kwaito and now it’s on Hip Hop. Do
you think R&B will ever get the exposure it deserves as the other
two genres?

Leanne: I do. I think that everyone is getting their turn and like you
said first Kwaito and now Hip Hop and I think that R&B artists will
get their turn to shine because this genre is growing so much. Every
month there is an R&B artist that’s recording. Everyone is trying
to do R&B. You know that they are doing Kwaito because there is
money in it, but we all know they want to sing R&B!

Nick: What is the biggest concern for you as an R&B singer?

Leanne: The biggest concern for me is the sales R&B artists make in
this country. It is so sad that if you’re a South African singing
R&B your fellow South Africans won’t support you. Obviously, they
would choose an Alicia Keys or a Beyoncè CD over yours. People should
go out and buy our CDs!

Nick: When you get a chance to work with any international artist of your choice who will it be?

Leanne: I hate it when people ask me this. There are so many. The first
people that come to mind are Destiny’s Child. I would love to work with
them because I think they are so talented and I have always listened to
them. I would also love to work with Alicia Keys and Fred Hammond –
just to be a backing vocalist for him would be amazing. There are many
other artists but these are the ones that stand out.

Nick: I always say that when an artist does a rendition of another
artist’s work, they hold that artist in high esteem. On Simply Luvlee
you have done a track which was originally done by Faith Evans “Don’t
Cry, Don’t Call Me” Is Faith one of the artists you look up to?

Leanne: Oh how can I forget Faith? I would love to work with Faith. I
love her. Oh I love Faith Evans with all my heart. I can’t believe I
forgot to include her as well. I think she is so versatile and so
talented. I have always loved her music.  

Nick: What should we expect in the near future?

Leanne: An amazing new album I have already started to work on that,
more of me like ten times better. I am also trying to get into acting
nothing serious just cameo roles.

Nick: Any inspiring words for the youth out there?

Leanne: Everyone always says that you need to follow your dreams and
when you going through a very hard time and you feel like it’s not
going to happen and you don’t think you will. I want you need to keep
pushing and praying and believing and I mean that if there are so many
people out there that you would never have thought could have made it
and if everyone else can, I can everyone definitely can.

Nick: What is the one thing about Leanne that we don’t know that we should know?

Leanne:  Many people’s impression about me when they first see me
is that I love partying, I am always out and doing what ever. I am
actually the opposite I like staying at home, I love cooking so much I
want to get married I want to have children. So I am actually a
homebody type of person. I am totally different to when I’m on stage. I
am totally shy in real life but I push myself when I go on stage.

Fun Trivia

Favourite Food?
Chicken, Anything Chicken

Car you driving?
Mercedes

Nick Name?
Luvlee, Lee, Laky, Lillian or Lilly.

Best friends name(s)?
I have three: Ayanda, Avril and Cleo.

Favourite holiday destination?
Dubai

Fondest childhood memory?
Directing whole “productions” with all the kids from my street when I
was about eight or nine. We would then perform for the parents when
they got home from work.

Most embarrassing moment?
At the Elle Fashion Show recently I put on my microphone and the guys
at the sound desk had it off. So I was on stage the music started and I
was singing “Got Me Going Crazy” and for the first verse of the song no
one heard me! It was very embarrassing.

If you were not a singer what would you be?
I would be a beauty therapist or a make up artist. I hope that I will
soon get to open my own make up school or massage parlour. I love being
pampered and I like to pamper people.

Pet Hates?
People that Lie

And the last question all guys would like to ask; are you single?
No. I am very much in love.