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People who have had the pleasure to witness a YahZarah live performance usually walk away with an adrenaline rush and a tingling feeling running up and down their spines. The Washington, D.C. native's energetic, funky, soulful Tina Turner-esque shows have that effect on the nervous system. To hear YahZarah when she's really feeling it, when she elevates from a neo-soul diva to funk shaman, both your ears and soul are inundated with a sound that's part Shirley Caesar and part Sly Stone, with a touch of the Brides of Funkenstein. Your feet might move in a syncopated church-happy style, but your hips do a George Clinton Funkadelic gyration. That's what the YahZarah experience has been known to do. "I want people to see me, feel me, hear me," she says. "I want them to hear my sincerity."
Ask anyone about YahZarah and the reaction you’ll get is the amazement over how a woman so petite can possess such an immense voice. That voice first became known to the music world when YahZarah, then known as mild-mannered background singer Dana Williams, was putting her considerable vocals down behind Erykah Badu. You’ve heard her on Badu's multi-platinum, Mama's Gun album. You've seen her on Badu's critically acclaimed nationwide tour, the David Letterman Show, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, BET's 106 & Park and as the Nickel Bag Lady in Badu's "Bag Lady" video. You probably didn't know who Erykah Badu's smallest background singer was, but that's about to change.
Evolution would best be the word to describe YahZarah. The former student from the renowned Duke Ellington School of Music who once performed with such musical legendary geniuses as Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker and Dave Brubek has made an incredible transformation in a short amount of time. In a span of five years, she has gone from a music scholarship student at North Carolina Central University to background singer for one of the founders of the neo-soul movement, to a soul artist in her own right. Now, with her upcoming CD release on Three Keys Music entitled Hear Me, YahZarah emerges from the background and steps into the spotlight with a sound that's distinctly her own. Hear Me is a soul inspired masterpiece that goes against the standard R&B grain and serves a gumbo of gospel, jazz, soul and funk in a live instrument package. YahZarah's versatile six-octave vocal range is crazy at times, while remotely sexy and cool at others, with funk at the core. "Funk is the form of music that I really want to explore," she says. "There really hasn't been a major female funk act since Chaka Khan, and that's where I intend to take my music, back to the funk."
YahZarah defined means "Queen mother is the brightest star." The name is a memorial to her deceased grandmother from Ghana, Yah Atchewincohma, and a tribute to her living grandmother, Sara (Zarah in Arabic). Growing up, YahZarah was influenced by soul greats such as Minnie Ripperton, Nina Simone and Angela Bofill. While her evolution is still a work in progress, YahZarah enjoys the direction in which she's traveling. "I am changing. I am evolving, I am growing, and my music will grow with me." Get ready as YahZarah navigates her listeners on a melodic pilgrimage through her organic funk/soul roots so they can finally hear her.
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